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The beetles are the largest single order of insects, they total a staggering 360 000 + named species and in 1977 1 in 4 or 25 percent of all animal species was a beetle.
Beetles can be described as holometabolous insects with biting mouth parts, 2 pairs of wings, the first pair of which are modified into leathery elytra which are not used in flight (though they may act as aerofoils), the Prothorax is large and the Mesothorax much reduced. The larvae are usually campodeiform or eruciform with biting mouthparts, the pupa are generally adecticous and exarate.
Beetles range in size from 0.25 mm to over 170mm long, and comprise both the largest and very nearly the smallest insects in the world.
There are several different ways of measuring the size of an insect, most people would consider the largest insect to be the bulkiest and in this case the champion insect is the Acteaom Beetle from South America the males of which can be 9cms long by 5cms wide by 4cms thick.
Another competitor for the title is the extemely rare South American Longhorn Beetle Titanus giganteus these giants can be over 16cms in body length (not including antennae) other longhorn beetles are nearly as long and may look bigger because of their longer legs i.e. Xixuthrus heros from Fiji, while another beetle, Dynastes hercules is also well known for reaching 16cms in length though it is not nearly a heavy.In the other direction many beetles are less than one millimetre in length, and the North american Feather-winged Beetle Nanosella fungi at 0.25mm is a serious contender for the title of smallest insect in the world.
Bark Beetles ( Scolytidae
Burying Beetles ( Silphidae; Nicrophorus sp.)
Chafers (Scarabaeidae)
Click Beetles ( Elateridae)
Dung Beetles ( Scarabaeoidea (in part))
Ground Beetles ( Carabidae)
Jewel Beetles ( Buprestidae)
Lady Birds ( Coccinelidae)
Larder Beetles ( Dermestidae)
Leaf Beetles ( Chrysomelidae)
Longhorn Beetles ( Cerambycidae)
Mealworms and Relatives ( Tenebrionidae)
Rove Beetles ( Staphylinidae)
Soldier and Sailor Beetles ( Cantharidae)
Stag Beetles ( Lucanidae)
Tiger Beetles ( Cicindelidae)
True Water Beetles ( Dytiscidae)
Weevils ( Curculionidae)
Whirligig Beetles ( Gyrinidae)
Woodworm Beetles ( Anobiidae)
The Glowworm Page
Orkin on Beetles
Mikes Bruchid Beetle Page
The Black Pecan Weevil Curculio caryae (Horn).
and Its larva
Beetles Images/Photos
The Hickory Shuckworm A beetle larva, Laspeyresia caryae (Fitch).
Classification of families and subfamilies of aquatic Coleoptera hierarchical classification linking to checklists of species
The Acquatic Beetle site Mostly Taxonomic
Beetle movie from Iowa State University Entomology Image Gallery
Bibliography of aquatic Coleoptera Illinois Natural History Survey
Checklist of Genera of Noteridae
Beetles at BugWatch
Checklist of the Western Hemisphere Caraboidea (Coleoptera)
Coleoptera at University of Colorado Museum
Coleoptera catalogue at UMMZ
List of Families University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
Costa Rican Lamenicorns incl key to Scarabaeidae
Peabody Museum Cicindellidae database
Tree of Life Coleoptera
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