ABC

Beetles, the order Coleoptera, are the largest group of insects. There are 350,000 differentspecies of beetles which have been named: about 40% of all known insects. There are an estimated 800,000 to a million living species. Beetles live almost everywhere, though not in theocean or in places that are very cold, such as Antarctica.

 

Beetles went through a massive adaptive radiation early in their evolutionary history. The evolution of flowering plants helped drive the diversification of beetles.Four of the six biggest families of beetles mainly eat flowering plants.

 

Beetle bodies : three main parts to a beetle's body: the head, the thorax(the middle part), and the abdomen (the back part). On the head, beetles have antennae (feelers), eyes, and a mouth. The legs and wings of the beetle are attached to the thorax. The abdomen of a beetle does not usually have special parts on the outside, but it has the beetle’s gut inside. Like other insects, beetles have no internal bones, but instead have a hard exoskeleton on the outside of the body. 

 

Wings : The back wings of a beetle are see-through. This beetle uses its back wings to fly. The hard front wings are lifted up.

 

Legs : Each leg is made out of several parts. The parts on the end of each leg are called tarsi. 

 

Sight and smell : Beetles have compound eyes, which means the two big shiny eyes on the head are actually made out of many smaller parts. beetles have no nose, they use their antennae to smell things. Beetles also use their antennae to feel things around them.