Buggy Transformers
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Wing Coverings They’re called elytra It’s liftoff! A scarab beetle (see (EL-ih-truh), and most Flight Wings beetles have them. photo) flaps its wings and rises Also called hind wings, Elytra are hard and into the air. they’re thin and delicate. tough. They protect the Beetles aren’t the best When not being used, delicate flight wings they fold under the elytra. underneath. fliers in the insect world. But But when it’s time to fly, that doesn’t stop them from these wings pop open Antennas and beat up and Most beetles use them being among the world’s great- down rapidly. for smelling. But some est success stories. Out of all the can use them for tasting, feeling, or even swimming species of animals on our planet, or fighting! They can be three out of ten are beetles! shaped like clubs, saw blades, feathers, They crawl, fly, hop, and or strings of beads. swim on every continent except Antarctica. You’ll find them in forests, deserts, prairies, mountain regions, and even Fossils like this one in your own backyard. show that beetles have Some beetles look strange. been around for at least Parts of their bodies may grow 300 million years. horns, crests, spikes, or brushes. Several beetles have long snouts, Legs Like all insects, and many are wildly colorful. beetles have six Beetles do weird things, too. jointed legs. Most beetles have two tiny claws on Some species eat dung, and a few the tip of each leg for even squirt out hot liquids. Isn’t holding on. it time you got to know some of these amazing creatures? BUGGY TRANSFORMERS by Gerry Bishop eggs larva All beetles start off as eggs. Most then go through three big changes called complete metamorphosis (met-uh-MOR-fuh-sis). The photos at right show how this works for a lady- There are more kinds of beetles on Earth than any other animal. bird beetle (also called ladybug). Each beetle hatches from an egg as a larva. The larva eats But how much do you really know about them? and grows and becomes a pupa (PEW-puh). Then, it emerges as an adult. pupa adult JEF MEUL/NIS/MINDEN PICTURES (20-21) >; GEORGE BERNARD/SCIENCE SOURCE (20 INSET); CLAUDE NURIDSANY & MARIE PERENNOU/ 20 SCIENCE SOURCE (21ML, 21BL) >; SAMUEL DHIER/SCIENCE SOURCE (21MR); DAVID KUHN/DWIGHT KUHN PHOTOGRAPHY (21BR) 21 GIRAFFE-NECKED WEEVIL More than 450,000 species of As far as shape goes, this beetle is one of the oddest. beetles have been discovered The male’s jointed neck is so far. They come in lots of about three times longer than different shapes, sizes, and colors. the female’s. The male uses it to roll a leaf into a tube- shaped nest. A female will lay an egg inside. EUPHOLUS WEEVIL Like a butterfly’s wings, a Eupholus (YOO-ful-us) is covered in tiny scales. The scales reflect light differ- ently. When the sun hits FROG-LEGGED them just right, it turns LEAF BEETLE ANDREA & ANTONELLA FERRARI/SEAPICS.COM (22TL); NICK GORDON/ARDEA (22B); the light parts a dazzling Many beetles are ROBERT PICKETT/VISUALS UNLIMITED (23T >, 23M); CH’IEN LEE/MINDEN PICTURES (23B) green and the other parts dull in color. But a bright blue. this one is downright flashy. When light hits it just right, its outer covering seems to glow with shiny green and red. The colors warn hungry preda- tors that the beetle TITAN BEETLE tastes terrible. One of the largest insects in the world, TRILOBITE BEETLE this beetle can be Remember the as big as a grown- shape of that up’s hand. The ladybug larva on world’s smallest page 21? A female insect may be the trilobite beetle never feather-winged becomes a pupa beetle (not shown). and instead keeps It could fit on the her larval shape period at the end of as an adult. this sentence—with room to spare. 22 JEF MEUL/NIS/MINDEN PICTURES (24T) >; JUAN ANTONIO TOVAR (24B) >; DWIGHT KUHN (25T); gerry bishop (25M); andy sands/naturepl.com (25B) > SCARAB BEETLE Like your nose, the antennas on this male scarab can detect any When it comes to survival smells floating by in or finding mates, some the air. If he picks up FIREFLY the scent of a female beetles can be very tricky. Fireflies (also called beetle, off he flies in lightning bugs) are her direction. beetles that use light instead of scents to find a mate. A male flashes a signal to any females that might be nearby. If a female likes what she sees, she’ll flash her own signal, saying, “Hey, come over here!” BROAD-NOSED WEEVIL Many beetles survive by do- ing their best to hide from danger. Check out this weevil. It’s hiding in plain sight by blending in with those white BLOODY-NOSED patches on a tree trunk. BEETLE You already met some beetles that use bright colors to fend off predators. When threatened, this beetle spits out a drop of yucky- tasting red goop. Fair warning to all! STAG BEETLES If a male stag beetle meets another male, often he will face him and fight. Males use their horn-like body parts to try to flip each other away. Usually the one that is flipped just tumbles down, picks himself up, and crawls off. 24 25 Most beetles are plant-eaters, but some GROUND BEETLE eat meat and some During the day, this beetle even eat poop! hides in a hole in the ground (called a burrow). Then in the evening, it crawls out and goes hunting for in- sects, slugs, and other small creatures. Using its powerful jaws, it grabs its prey (a grasshopper this time) and drags it underground. JOSE B. RUIZ/NATUREPL.COM (T); RICHARD BECKER/FLPA/MINDEN PICTURES (BL); PAUL SOUDERS/ DANITADELIMONT.COM (BR) DUNG BEETLE Yep—some beetles even eat poop. It is full of stuff that the pooper didn’t digest but would make good food for a beetle. CHECKERED BEE BEETLE As a larva, this beetle feeds on young bees. But as an adult, it goes for the pollen in flowers. If it comes across small insects, it eats them, too! MEET MORE BEETLES Look on plants and under rocks and logs during the day. Or check out a light at night. You may come across beetles that are even more amazing than the ones you met here! = 26.