I’m a Beetle
Not to be confused with the popular British rock band known as the Beatles.

Not John, Paul, George or Ringo.



Though I can “sing” by rubbing my wings together to attract a female by making sounds in the mating process.



I’m an insect.

I have two pairs of wings enabling me to fly.

Six legs to get around crawling everywhere.

I can also swim in the water.



I have an outer body protective covering that forms as a shell from forewings as I undergo metamorphosis becoming an adult ready to continue the life cycle and going off to mate to start a new generation of beetles.



The shell provides my protection from predators.



Beetles are colorful creatures and their look, size and colors depend on their species.



Some beetles are unable to fly.

They get around by crawling on the ground or swimming in the water.



Some beetles are lucky enough to fly, crawl, swim and burrow.



Beetles live everywhere in the world and that also includes the coldest place on the planet, Antarctica.



Beetles have adapted well over time allowing them to live in all types of weather conditions and temperatures.



In the cold winter beetles usually burrow into the ground to find a place to escape the cold and they can become dormant for their adaptability and survival.



There are over 400,000 known species of beetles worldwide.



Beetles evolve in 4 stages from egg to larva to pupa to adult.



There are multiple stages in the larva

Development where the mealworm beetles eat continuously and grow shedding their skin, molting as many as 15 times before reaching the pupa stage where they no longer feed.



The lifecycle from egg to all stages of development takes about a year depending on species.



The beetle has existed well over 300 million years ago before the dinosaurs roamed the earth and have evolved in its development over that time and flourished as a result of flowering plants some 145 million years ago earning them the name of “nature’s first pollinators”.



Beetles still pollinate some species of flowers especially ancient flowers such as magnolias and spicebush that their ancestors once pollinated hundreds of millions of years ago.



Magnolia trees are also pollinated by bees, moths and butterflies but the beetle was the first introduced to pollination of these magnificent flowers that bloom from the trees.



They are attracted to their sweet nectar that has brought them together all these hundreds of millions of years and continues to unite them together in nature’s glorious wonder.



The tiny beetle can live in ant and termite colonies where it neither benefits or harms the foreign colony but if a parasitic relationship occurs then they pose a threat to the colony.



Some common species of beetles that we didn’t think as beetles are the lady bug and the lightning bug.



Beetles have a life expectancy of a few weeks but some can live up to 2 years and some a bit longer but that depends on their environment and habitat.



Many beetles are solitary insects but there are also beetles that are social and are found in colonies for their safety and survival.



Beetles are fast having been clocked at 2.5 meters per second which translates to almost 6 miles per hour.



The feather winged beetle is one of the tiniest in the world, from Australia, a mere fraction of a millimeter while the largest is the giraffe stag beetle, from Asia, coming in at near 5 inches in length.



They are worlds apart in size and geography.



Beetles live in all kinds of terrain and places throughout the world in forests, underground, above ground, in bodies of water, in vegetation, in woods and trees, in nests of social insects including ants and termites and in organic matter.



Beetles eat plants, leaves, seeds, fruits, decaying matter, wood and small insects.



Beetles also depend on water for their survival and seek it out in addition to food.



Beetles are resilient and survivors in nature as proven over 350 millions years of their evolution and existence.



I am a tiny insect that can fly, crawl, swim and burrow.



I’m a beetle.