Coleoptera: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	beetle • coleopteran

Photos and Videos

African goliath beetle

Asparagus beetle

Ladybug beetles

Wood-boring beetle

Illustration showing eleven different beetle species, each labeled with common and scientific names, including European rhinoceros beetle, clover seed weevil, great silver water beetle, violet ground beetle, longhorn beetle, green tiger beetle, seven-spotted ladybug, stag beetle, click beetle, deathwatch beetle, and glowworm. Each beetle is depicted in color and detail, highlighting their varied shapes and markings.

Illustration showing seven types of beetle larvae, each with distinct shapes and textures, including white grub, linden borer, water-penny, aquatic beetles, carpet beetle, and buprestid larva, with scientific names labeled.

Discover how scavengers prevent illnesses caused by microbes and other pathogens that inhabit the carcasses they consume

Know how scientist by using synchrotron radiation, revealed the bombardier beetles defensive mechanism of spraying hot liquids in a series of pulses

Find how the Canadian forests are infested and destroyed by the mountain pine beetles

See a colony of hornets battle with a stag beetle for access to tree sap

See All Videos, Images and Interactives →

Topics

Cupesidae water beetle Myxophaga Adephaga Archostemata Elleschodes Polyphaga Colopterus truncatus wrinkled bark beetle trout-stream beetle Lepidoptera annelid heteropteran Hymenoptera crustacean Diptera mollusk arachnid neuropteran Odonata

Key People

default image

René Jeannel

French biologist

wasp. Vespid Wasp (Vespidaea) with antennas and compound eyes drink nectar from a cherry. Hornets largest eusocial wasps, stinging insect in the order Hymenoptera, related to bees. Pollination

Know Your Bugs Quiz

Green tree python snake (Chondropython viridis) in a rainforest.

Creepy Crawlers Quiz

Mute swan with cygnet. (birds)

Match the Baby Animal to Its Mama Quiz

Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters

Animal Group Names

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is seen in Switzerland on December 2024

Animal Factoids

Lion (panthera leo)

Deadliest Animals Quiz

Lion (panthera leo)

Deadliest Animals Quiz