Beetles of North America - Order Coleoptera
Beetles are the dominant form of life on earth: one of every five living species is a beetle, and one fourth of all animals are beetles. Coleoptera is the largest order in the animal kingdom, containing a third of all insect species. Unless otherwise noted, all pictures are of live beetles photographed in the wild. We do not capture or chill or pose our subjects.  Table of Contents
 

Longhorn Beetle
This longhorn beetle, family Cerambycidae, takes antennae to the extreme.
Photo: © Sean McCann used with permission


Red Milkweed Beetle
Tetraopes tetraophthalmus

Tiger Beetle
Cicindela hirtilabris

NEW!
White Beach Tiger Beetle
Cicindela dorsalis media

Locust Borer
Megacyllene robiniae

Japanese Beetle
Popillia japonica

All Ladybug Beetles
Family Coccinellidae
 
Soldier Beetles

Chauliognathus sp

Bombardier Beetle
Brachinus medius
Aristotle described beetles as insects with wing cases, thus Coleoptera, from Greek koleon, "sheath", and pteron, "wing."  There are about 300,000 known species of beetles worldwide, 30,000 of which live in North America. Various species live in nearly every habitat except the open sea, and for every kind of food, there's probably a beetle species that eats it. Beetles first appeared during the lower Permian period, about 240 million years ago.

Spotted Cucumber Beetle
Diabrotica undecimpunctata

Fiery Searcher Beetle

Calosoma scrutator

Flower Longhorn Beetle
Typocerus velutinus

Six-spotted Green Tiger Beetle
Cicindela sexguttata

Weevil
Cryptorhynchinae
sp.

Delta Flower Scarab
Trigonopeltastes delta

Dogbane Leaf Beetle
Chrysochus auratus

Black Blister Beetle
Epicauta pennsylvanica
Beetles can easily be recognized by the armor-like forewings, called elytra, that cover the membranous hindwings used for flying. The name Coleoptera means "sheath wings." Most beetles have large prominent compound eyes, and there are many different types of beetle antennae: threadlike, clubbed, antennae with leaf-like structures at the tip, so-called longhorn beetles with antennae up to 2 1/2 times their body length. The elytra are often brightly colored and patterned, attributes that earn beetles the sobriquet "living jewels."

Leaf Beetle
Sumitrosis rosea

June Beetle
Phyllophaga sp.

Insect Order
Strepsiptera

Clay-colored Leaf Beetle
Anomoea laticlavia

Milkweed Leaf Beetle
Labidomera clivicollis

Leaf Beetle
Odontota dorsalis

Orange Blister Beetle
Nemognatha sp

Leaf Beetle
Trirhabda virgata

Although most beetles can fly, they generally do so only to move among low vegetation. They fly heavily and steer poorly. Often, as is the case with lady beetles, they have to climb to an elevated vantage point for a successful takeoff. Though some types of beetles (the tiger beetles or metallic wood-borers, for instance) are able to burst into flight rapidly when threatened, most others require lengthy preparations before becoming airborne.

Since beetles are cold-blooded, their body temperature is usually insufficient to permit the wing muscles to move rapidly enough for flight. So the beetle must raise its body temperature by vibrating its wings. This pumps air into the body and expends metabolic energy. Right after takeoff, the heavier beetles hang almost vertically in the air and only become more horizontal as top speed is reached. Beetles fly with between 30 to 90 wingbeats per second. The elytra are held diagonally erect, and act as gliding surfaces and stabilizers; the work of flying is done by the elastic hind wings (alae).

Chewing mouthparts with well-developed mandibles allow beetles to eat a broad range of materials. They are known to eat leaves, bark, dung, and other insects as well as man-made fabrics. Some beetles are predators, some are herbivores or scavengers, and some are parasites. Beetle larvae, called grubs, can be predacious or herbivorous and sometimes cover themselves with protective shelters. All grubs have biting mouthparts. Most species produce only one generation a year, mating in spring and summer.

Read our article on the Asian Longhorned Beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis.

 


Green Tiger Beetle's head showing large compound eyes and well-developed mandibles


Hairy Flower Chafer - Trichiotinus piger

Some beetles attack plants and stored foods, while others are beneficial as pollinators of flowering plants and predators of other insect pests. Ladybugs and lightning bugs and fireflies are all well-known misnamed insects; they are all beetles. The familiar huge brown June bug, often seen bumping against the porch light on summer nights, is a beetle. The infamous boll weevil, bane of cotton farmers throughout the United States, is a beetle.

The Asian Longhorned beetle is a newly introduced species to North America; its discovery in New York State and near Chicago Illinois in the late 1990's necessitated the destruction of thousands of trees in order to stop its spread. The bombardier beetle mixes volatile chemicals in a special combustion chamber in its abdomen and blasts would-be attackers with hot, toxic gases. The examples of fascinating (and destructive) beetle behavior and appearance makes them some of the most studied insects on the planet.


Brown Fruit Chafer
Euphoria inda

Firefly / Lightning Bug
Photuris lucicrescens

 Soldier beetle
Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus

Corn Rootworm Beetle
Diabrotica barberi

Casebearer Leaf Beetle
Saxinis sp.

Dung Beetle
Geotrupes sp.

Oak Borer
Agrilus angustulus

Leaf Beetle
Calligrapha sp.

Checkered Beetle
Enoclerus quadriguttatus

Click Beetle
Ampedus sp.

Soldier Beetle
 Trypherus sp.

Metallic Wood-borer
Acmaeodera sp.

Ground Beetle
Scarites sp.

Longhorn Beetle
Panandra brunnea

Stag Beetle
Pseudolucanus capreolus


 


Longhorn Flower Beetle
Brachyleptura rubrica


Longhorned Beetle
Necydalis melita


Click Beetle
Dalopius sp.


Ground Beetle
Spongopus verticalis

Acorn Weevil
Curculio sp.


Clavate Tortoise Beetle
Deloyala clavata


Grapevine Beetle
Pelidnota punctata
Dung Beetle Phanaeus vindex
Rainbow Scarab
Phanaeus vindex

Weevil
Polydrusus species


Green Tortoise Beetle
Cassida rubiginosa


Ground Beetle
 Calleida punctata

Dung Beetle
 Copris fricator

Shop for Art at our new website - you can order art prints, posters, you name it -
and choose from hundreds of frame and mat samples; frame it right online!

 

              
 
       web       www.cirrusimage.com