Beetles - general characteristics and types of insects

Detailed description

Depending on the species, the beetle may have additional eyes. Insects that live in caves, as a rule, lack vision organs. A representative of Coleoptera has a powerful mouthparts designed for grinding food. This organ includes the upper and lower jaws.

Hercules beetles have the most massive mandible. The thorax of a representative of the order Coleoptera consists of 3 segments. In the area of ​​the middle back there are elytra. Beetles have much in common with other representatives of the insect class; they have the following external organs:

• basin;
• shin;
• paws.

There are small dense hairs on the surface of the legs. There are many types of beetles. The most common ones have a uniform brown or brownish-yellow color. Red insects are common.

Less common are species with brightly patterned patterns. Some representatives of the Coleoptera order glow in the dark, they look beautiful and always arouse interest. Females, as a rule, are larger than males and their bodies are more elongated.

Some beetles have very developed mandibles, similar to horns (in this case, males are larger than females). Beetles communicate with each other and protect members of their population. When the male finds a female, he makes a characteristic sound that scares away other types of insects.

The beetle produces vibrations when its front chest rubs against the middle one. Representatives of this class of insects differ in size, but their structure is the same. In nature there are small, medium, and giant beetles. The maximum size of an adult is 21 cm. This species is called the “titan lumberjack.”

Hercules beetle / Dynastes hercules

The photo shows a very beautiful and unusual beetle that lives in Central and Latin America. This is a large species. Males grow up to 17 cm. Females are slightly smaller. But the wingspan reaches 22 cm.

The head is dark, and the entire body is covered with small red hairs. On the head of males there is a huge horn with teeth. Females do not have such a horn. Despite its menacing appearance, it is safe. Feeds on tropical fruits.

In search of food, it easily flies from tree to tree. Today the species is endangered and is listed in the Red Book of the International Organization for Conservation of Nature.

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Habitat

Beetles are found all over the world, they live in forests, steppes, deserts, and tundra. Insects rarely live where there is permanent snow; they are not found in Antarctica. Beetles are found:

• in black soils;
• in the bark of trees;
• in deciduous cover.

Some species inhabit deserts. Such insects are adapted to different environmental conditions. They forage for food at night.

Most representatives of the Coleoptera order prefer to drink fresh and slightly salted water.

Habitat of the stag beetle

The stag beetle is a fairly unpretentious insect, and therefore its habitat covers a large number of territories. You can meet a beautiful stag in the following countries:

1. The entire European part, with the exception of Denmark, Lithuania, Estonia and Great Britain, where representatives of the stag beetle are not found.
2. Russia, with the exception of the most severe regions (Siberia).
3. On the Crimean peninsula, the beetle has chosen warm mountain and forest areas.

The insect is also found in the steppes of Kazakhstan. This specific distribution of the species is associated with the peculiarities of its lifestyle. The beetle prefers to live, grow and reproduce mainly in deciduous forests, with a large number of oak trees.

Nutritional Features

Beetles are divided into 2 types: predatory and herbivorous. The former eat their brothers and their larvae, the latter feed on mushrooms, seeds, fruits, and the bark of tree crops. Many representatives of arthropods are pests of garden plants. They destroy the fruits and drink the juice of the leaf blades.

It is important to know what beetles of other species eat. They feast on the leaves of vegetable and fruit plants. The most common pest is the Colorado potato beetle, which eats crops of the nightshade family. However, some Coleoptera are forest orderlies. They feed on dry and rotting leaves.

Certain species of beetles eat animal remains. Some insects love wood and pollen. Depending on the species, an arthropod may only feed in its larval stage and go its entire life without food.

The insect affects the state of the ecosystem. Adults, as well as larvae, process wood, improve plant photosynthesis, preventing the development of diseases. Without beetles there would be no humus, plants would not be able to pollinate. In nature, there are more than 350 species of these insects, among them rare ones, little studied by science.

BUGS

Beetle larvae: 1 – golden beetles; 2 – May Khrushchev; 3 – ham skin beetle; 4 – barbel; 5 – ground beetles; 6 – rove beetle; 7 – ladybug; 8 – Colorado potato beetle...

BEETLES, Coleoptera (Coleoptera), an order of insects with a complete metamorphosis, including a larval stage, a resting pupal stage and an adult - imago. The most ancient liquids are known from the deposits of the Lower Permian, some of the modern ones. families were already represented in the Jurassic. Most of the currently existing families of Zh., apparently, developed during the Cretaceous period, when the modern one was formed. Flora. In the Paleogene many appeared. modern genera, and in the Neogene - species of beetles.

Body length varies from 0.2 mm (feather wings) to 18 cm (hercules). The prothorax is movably articulated with the mesothorax, the metathorax is more developed than the mesothorax. The fore wings of the wings are transformed into dense or hard elytra (hence the second name of the order - Coleoptera), which at rest usually fit tightly to the abdomen, completely cover it and serve to protect the membranous hind wings. The latter are used by the wings for flight; when at rest, they fold and hide under the elytra. In insects living in the soil, on its surface and in the litter, the wings are often shortened or completely reduced, and the elytra are often fused. Among J., species with black and brown coloring are common, but often it is light or bright, many with a metallic color. low tide; soil and cave soils, the covers of which are almost devoid of pigments, are pale yellow. The legs are running or walking, in some the front legs are digging (including in lamellar beetles, little beetles, bark beetles, some ground beetles), sometimes grasping (whirling beetles), and the hind legs are swimming (in swimmers, water lovers, etc.) or jumping (for example ., in some caryopses, leaf beetles and weevils). The mouthparts are gnawing. The antennae are usually 11-segmented - filiform, bead-shaped, saw-toothed, comb-shaped, club-shaped, lamellar, geniculate, and other types.

Beetles (names of families are given in order). Ground beetles: 1 – field horse; 2 – odorous beauty; 5 – Caucasian ground beetle; 6 – crackling bombardier; 8 – giant ground beetle; 15…

Zh. larvae have a well-developed, highly sclerotized head and powerful gnawing or piercing jaws. The body is usually soft, in hidden-living forms it is white, in open-living forms it is of various, sometimes bright colors. There are three main ones. type of larvae: with 3 pairs of well-developed thoracic legs and, as a rule, an elongated body, very mobile, usually predatory (for example, in ground beetles, diving beetles, rove beetles) - the so-called. campodeaeformes; fleshy, worm-shaped or C-shaped curved, with short legs or without legs, sedentary, often herbivorous (for example, in lamellar beetles, lumberjacks, weevils, weevils) - so-called. erucoid; with a long, often cylindrical, highly sclerotized body and short strong legs, herbivorous or predatory (characteristic of click beetles, darkling beetles, pollen eaters, etc.) - the so-called. wireworms. Pupae are usually free; soft and light if they pupate in a chamber or cocoon prepared in advance by the larva; if pupation occurs openly on plants, they are highly sclerotized, often brightly colored (for example, in ladybugs and leaf beetles).

Beetles (names of families are given in order). Lumberjacks (barbels): 1 – large aspen creaker; 3 – relict barbel; 5 – alpine barbel; 20 – Brazilian long-legged harlequin. Black...

Zh. is the richest order of insects in species. The total number in the squad is approx. 170 modern families and more than 350 thousand species; in Russia approx. 15 thousand species from more than 130 families. Approx. 2000 new species. They are distributed everywhere except Antarctica, the glacial zone of the Arctic, and high mountain peaks; the animal fauna is especially diverse in the tropics.

Traditionally, the order Zh. is divided into 4 suborders: archostemata (Archostemata), myxophages (Myxophaga), carnivores (Adephaga) and heterovores (Polyphaga). Archostemata are the most ancient and primitive group, which gave rise to other suborders. Now they include approx. 25 species from 3 families: Cupedidae (gourmets), Jurodidae and Micromalthidae. In Russia (Primorye) there are 2 species from the families Gourmet and Jurodidae. Myxophages are very small beetles (up to 1.5 mm), combining in their structure some features of archostemata and heterovorous beetles. Includes 4 families, several. dozens of species. In Russia there is 1 species (family globulus, Sphaeriidae). Carnivorous beetles are represented by 10 families (ground beetles, phalaropes, diving beetles, whirligigs, etc.) and more than 30 thousand species. This is a premium. predators, some switched to feeding on plants for the second time. Hernivorous Zh. include approx. 150 families and an overwhelming number of species, the types of nutrition of which are extremely diverse. Fanwings are often also included in this suborder.

Zh. are dioecious, oviparous, rarely ovoviviparous (some leaf beetles, rove beetles) animals. Some skin beetles, darkling beetles, leaf beetles and many others. Short-proboscis weevils are characterized by parthenogenesis. For representatives of the family Micromalthidae are characterized by reproduction at the larval stage (pedogenesis).

The lifespan of adults is usually 2–3 months, sometimes several. days; in the case of wintering - 6–10 months, rarely up to 2–4 years. Larvae that live in fruits, on plant leaves, in droppings, on corpses, as well as larvae of predatory beetles, develop within 1–4 months; herbivorous larvae living in soil or wood - approx. 1 year or more, sometimes up to 4–5 years. Pupation usually occurs in areas where larvae develop. The pupal phase lasts from several days to 1 month, rarely more. In some families (for example, in blister beetles and fantails), development proceeds with hypermetamorphosis: the larvae of the first instar are campodeiform, and those of older instars are erucoid. Usually in temperate latitudes, 1 generation of females develops during the year. Caring for the offspring of females is, as a rule, limited to laying eggs in places most suitable for the development of larvae; sometimes the eggs are kept in special places. cocoons (water lovers); some beetles make nests with food reserves (for example, dung beetles, tubeweeds). Among the representatives of the family. Passalidae, living in the tropics, the parents feed the larvae with chewed wood.

They inhabit all kinds of biotopes on land, fresh and brackish water bodies. Soil beetles are found at depths of up to several meters; cave species penetrate to depths of more than 100 m. Herbivorous bees inhabit all organs of angiosperms; many are associated with fungi, some with ferns, horsetails, mosses, and lichens. Based on the nature of their nutrition, animals are divided into consumers of plants (phytophages), fungi (mycetophages), animal food (zoophages), and decomposing organic matter. remains (saprophages) and omnivorous species. Each group contains both highly specialized species (mono- and oligophages) and species that consume a variety of foods (polyphags). The larvae of blister beetles, fantail beetles, some moths, ground beetles, and rove beetles parasitize the clutches, larvae, pupae, and nests of other insects. Silphopsyllus desmanae from the family. norolyubov (Leptinidae) is an ectoparasite of the muskrat, and Platypsyllus castoris from the family. Beaver fleas (Platypsyllidae) are an ectoparasite of the beaver.

Due to the abundance of species, their abundance, and the development of various biotopes, animals play a significant role in terrestrial biocenoses. Mn. species - soil formers, orderlies, plant pollinators, regulators of the number of insects and other invertebrates. Some liquids damage agricultural products. and forest crops, timber, food supplies. A number of types of iron are used for biological purposes. control of insect pests (e.g. ladybugs and ground beetles) and weeds (including borers, leaf beetles, weevils). 36 species of beetles from 7 families are included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation and approx. 70 – in the IUCN Red List.

Characteristics of ground beetles

The species includes more than 20,000 subspecies (groups of insects). Predatory and herbivorous ground beetles are common. The most famous subspecies is called “humpbacked peon” . His body is large, black, and has a metallic tint. The size of an adult does not exceed 18 mm.

The mandibles of the humpback peon are well developed. The insect leads an active lifestyle, but cannot fly, and feeds on solid plants. Its legs are elongated, thanks to them the arthropod runs quickly. The ground beetle is distinguished by large elytra, and its abdomen is protected from the negative influence of the external environment. The insect is found in Egypt, Tunisia, Africa, France, central Russia, and also in Ukraine.

Trichogramma (egg-eaters)

A simple hunting mechanism is also used by egg-eating riders. The insects themselves feed on nectar and look quite decent, but their larvae parasitize the eggs of other insects. Trichogramma leaves without offspring the cabbage whitefly, codling moth, meadow moth, fall armyworm, gooseberry sawfly and other lepidoptera.

Trichogramma larvae parasitize the eggs of other insects

The main beauty of trichograms is that you can buy them. Of course, not in a garden store, but in special laboratories, but the trouble is worth it. Each individual released onto the site will produce so many offspring that at least a thousand pest eggs will be damaged.

Weevil or elephant

The species is divided into 60,000 subspecies. Insects differ in body shape. For example, it can be cylindrical or in the form of a hemisphere. Weevils have different colors, they can be black, yellow-brown. The pictures show different types of elephant insects.

The most common species is the rice weevil. His body is elongated, slightly swollen, beautiful, because it has a characteristic shine. The chitinous covers of the insect are brown, the elytra consist of thin grooves. The weevil lives in Europe, Asia, Austria, America and Africa.

Elephant beetle / Megasoma elephas

The giant from the Duplyaki family chose the rainforests of Latin America to live. Large populations are found in Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.

Males reach 17 cm in length, females no more than 8 cm. The body is black, and everything is covered with red hairs. On the small head of the male there is a horn directed forward. This is a nocturnal resident. It goes in search of food after dark, and during the day it hides under the bark or in the foliage of trees.

Biologists distinguish three subspecies. The first was discovered at the end of the 18th century, but the other two were discovered in the 20th and 21st centuries.

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Predatory beetles

They number more than 45,000 subspecies. The elytra of predatory beetles are short, the body size, as a rule, does not exceed 9 mm. The outer covers of such insects are dark or red-brown. Depending on the subspecies, predatory beetles may have a red or yellow pattern on the surface of the body. Such species arouse the child's interest.

They are distributed throughout the world, more often found in Japan, Canada, Europe, and North America. These beetles feed on the remains of animals and the larvae of other insects. They eat decaying plant pollen and algae found on land.

The most common predatory beetle is rove beetle . The maximum size of its body is 1 cm, it is elongated in shape. Representatives of this species are found in America and Eurasia. Rove rove beetle lives near water bodies, hiding in wet grass. The insect is found in garden plots. It is not a pest, but protects garden crops from the harmful effects of other arthropods.

Ladybug / Coccinella septempunctata

Our list opens with the most common type of ladybugs. The elytra are colored red or orange with seven black dots.

The green beetle spread from the Far East to the Iberian Peninsula, in North Africa. In Russia it is found in the steppe zone, in gardens, and on the southern slopes of mountains covered with forests. Other species have spread throughout the planet except Antarctica.

This is a predator that eats aphids, whiteflies, and some types of scale insects. They were specifically brought to North America to reduce the aphid population. In the Northern Hemisphere, it displaces other species, as it is more distinguished by aggressive behavior.

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Lamellar arthropods

They are divided into 25,000 subspecies. The body of such insects is small, elongated up to 60 mm. Some representatives of the subfamily have an oval body. The chitinous covers of lamellar beetles are dark green with small growths in the form of spines. Such insects eat manure and plant debris.

The most common representative of the subspecies is the sacred scarab. It is distinguished by a smooth convex round body, painted black. The body size of a male individual does not exceed 35−37 mm. A special feature of the scarab is its large teeth located in the area of ​​the front legs. Representatives of this species live in Bulgaria, Spain, Georgia, Cyprus, and Africa. They feed on plant debris.

Ecology

Of all the abiotic factors, the main limiting environmental factor for the distribution of ground beetles is soil moisture. The vast majority of species prefer moist biotopes with low temperatures, which is due to the rapid loss of water by the body of ground beetles. This is especially true for predatory species that need to replenish their body’s water supply by directly drinking water. Phytophagous ground beetles replenish water shortages by eating plant tissues where there is enough plant sap. Some parasitoid species replenish the lack of water at the expense of the host's hemolymph. A small group of species has adapted to conserving water and is able to live in saline biotopes - the coasts of salt lakes, salt marshes, and sea beaches.

Purple ground beetle

Lebia the little crusader

Leaf beetles

The species has 32,000 varieties. Insects have an elongated or spherical body of a rich blue or golden color. The size of the female’s body does not exceed 16 mm.

The most common representative of the subspecies is the mint leaf beetle . It has a small, smooth, convex body of blue-green color. The maximum size of an insect is 11 mm. The green leaf beetle loves to feast on mint leaves, which is why it got its characteristic name.

Unusual longhorned beetle

There are more than 23,000 subspecies in nature. The mustaches of arthropods are long, exceeding the size of the body by 3 times. The average body size is 15 mm. Most representatives of the subspecies are small, but there are also giants, which include the titan woodcutter.

The insect weighs 25 grams. The head of the woodcutter is elongated, slightly flattened, the body is brown, but there are also black varieties. There are 3 spikes on the front back of the woodcutter. The male lives up to 36 days. The largest woodcutter beetle was recorded in South America.

Body structure of stag beetles

Most species of staghorns are large in size: the length of males can exceed 12 cm, a significant part of which is due to powerful jaws, shaped like horns. However, there are also species with small jaws, typical of other families of Coleoptera.

Hornbills have a strong build: an elongated body combined with a large head. In some species, the head and pronotum (pronotum) may exceed the width of the abdomen. The impressive size of these sections is also explained by the fact that powerful muscles are located inside them, driving the huge jaws.

Head

The head of these beetles is wide and powerful. It contains small eyes, antennae and mouthparts. The back of the head is firmly articulated with the chest shield, so its mobility is very limited. Such a strong joint is necessary for the insect during fights with an opponent.

Eyes

Relatively small compound eyes are hidden behind antennae and jaws on either side of the head. Formed by a large number of ommatidia.

Mating season

Male representatives of the insect class fight with each other, occupying the most comfortable places. Males actively forage for food and often fight for females. Beetles are higher insects; their reproduction requires complete transformation. The egg passes into the larval stage, which becomes a pupa and subsequently develops into a full-fledged individual.

The female hides the eggs in fallen leaves or places them in stones. The larva can hatch in the bark of a tree, in curled leaves.

The eggs are usually white, green or yellow. On their surface there is a thin leathery shell. The size of the egg depends on the type of beetle in question. On average, it lives 15-20 days, after which it turns into a larva.

Larvae can be seen in the soil and tree bark. They are:

• yellow;
• white;
• pinkish.

The outer integument is brown or green and may have brown spots on the surface. The larvae differ not only in shape, but also in body structure; they are often elongated and dense. Some of them look like worms.

Some larvae have a chitinous layer, others do not. The head has hard coverings and a developed oral apparatus. When the larva develops, it molts. Life expectancy depends on the type of female and male, and the climatic features of the area play an important role. The larva can live from 2 months to 5 years. It should be noted that some arthropods reproduce in the larval stage.

Coleoptera representatives of the “Insect” class contribute to the pollination of garden crops. Beetles eat animal remains, resulting in faster decomposition processes. Predatory species are beneficial for the crop because they destroy their harmful counterparts. The importance of beetles in nature and human economic activity is difficult to overestimate. “Forest nurses” improve the ecosystem.

Life cycle of a stag beetle

Reproduction occupies a special place in the life cycle of the staghorn. There is a constant competition between males for the attention of females and food. The fight ends in the victory of the insect that was able to knock all its rivals to the ground.

Next, the mating process occurs, after which the female lays eggs. For laying eggs, a place without excess moisture is carefully selected, for example, dry stumps or crevices of old trees. The stag beetle larva appears after a month and grows, feeding on the remains of trees.

The pupa develops exclusively underground, and the maturation process lasts throughout the autumn-winter period. In spring, a beautiful beetle with recognizable colors emerges from the pupa. The lifespan of an adult is 1 month.