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How do beetle wing covers protect their flight wings?

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Illustration showing a variety of adult insects, each labeled with its common name and order, including walkingstick, earwig, stonefly, tree cricket, dragonfly, female scale, cat flea, thrips, sucking louse, thysanuran, ant, scarab beetle, stinkbug, mosquito, and cabbage butterfly, highlighting their diverse shapes and sizes. — insect An illustration of insect diversity.

Beetles (order Coleoptera) possess two pairs of wings, with the front pair modified into hardened, leathery, or brittle structures known as elytra. These elytra serve primarily as protective covers for the insect's body and its delicate hindwings.1

When the beetle is at rest, the elytra fold over the back, effectively shielding the membranous flying wings that lie beneath them. By covering the metathorax—where the flying wings are attached—and much of the abdomen, the elytra provide a durable physical barrier that protects the beetle's soft internal parts and flight apparatus from environmental damage.23