Beetles
Beetles are the most diverse group of animals on Earth, from horned rhinoceros beetles that wrestle for mates to click beetles that snap themselves into the air. These guides cover beetle identification, life cycles, diet, and behavior.
It depends entirely which one. Most recycle waste or hunt pests; a few chew your roses. Identify before you judge.
Size
Under 1 mm to a palm
up to rhinoceros beetles
Diet
Almost anything
wood, dung, leaves, prey
Habitat
Soil to freshwater
deadwood, dung, foliage
Wings
Sheathed flight wings
hard cases (elytra) fold over
Species
Around 400,000
a quarter of all animals
What makes a beetle a beetle
Every beetle here shares one trait: hard front wing-cases that lift to free the real flight wings underneath. It's what the name Coleoptera means, sheathed wing, and it's how you tell a beetle from anything else.
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Wing-cases closed At rest the hard cases (elytra) meet in a straight seam down the back. That line is the classic beetle look.
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Cases lifted To fly, the beetle raises the rigid covers like a hood, up and out of the way.
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Wings unfold The real flight wings, folded away underneath, spread out much larger than the cases that hid them.
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In flight Airborne, cases held up out of the way, the thin membrane wings doing all the work.
Beetles are the group that made me realize how much I was missing. One in every four animal species on Earth is a beetle, and most people can name maybe three. Lift a rotting log and you'll meet a dozen strangers in a minute.
Sam Fielding · field note · about Sam
Typical season
Most active through the warm months; grubs overwinter in soil or wood.
Often confused with
Ladybugs
Also beetles, but round, red, spotted, and always welcome
Cockroaches
Flatter and faster, with long antennae; a problem indoors, unlike most beetles
A dung beetle can roll a ball fifty times its own weight, steering a straight line by the light of the Milky Way.
Dung Beetles
Nature's cleanup crew. Rollers, tunnelers, and dwellers that bury waste, which fertilizes soil and cuts down on flies. Unsung garden heroes.
Start here
Male stag beetles spend years underground as grubs, then a few summer weeks above ground wrestling with oversized jaws.
Stag Beetles
The gentle giants with antler-like jaws. Those mandibles are for shoving rival males, not for you. Harmless, and a sign of good deadwood habitat.
A rhinoceros beetle can carry up to 850 times its body weight, pound for pound among the strongest animals alive.
Rhinoceros Beetles
Bulky, horned, and famously strong. Harmless despite the armor; the horn is for lifting rivals, not fighting you.
Flipped onto its back, a click beetle snaps a spine against its body to launch into the air with an audible click, no legs needed.
Click Beetles
The acrobats. Landed upside down, they snap themselves airborne with a loud click. Their larvae, wireworms, can be a mild garden nuisance.
Some longhorn beetles have antennae longer than their entire body, which is exactly where the name comes from.
Longhorn Beetles
Named for antennae that can outlength the whole beetle. Their larvae bore through deadwood, part of the forest recycling system.
A feeding Japanese beetle releases a scent that summons more beetles, which is why the damage arrives all at once.
Japanese Beetles
The problem one. Metallic green and copper, introduced and invasive, skeletonizing rose and grape leaves in feeding swarms.