Beetles
BY: Gavin.C
Lifecycle
Beetles have 4 life stages. The 1st stage is an egg. The 2nd stage is larva, after the larva stage comes the pupa stage. The next stage is the adult stage. If the beetles mate they only live a few days as adults then they die.
Food
It seems a beetle will eat anything because they can look scary. But that is not true. They will eat only a few things. A lot of bigger or stronger beetles will eat smaller bugs.
The beetles will eat dog food, apples, grapes or popcorn.
The beetles will eat dog food, apples, grapes or popcorn.
Body
Like all insects beetles have 6 legs and 3 main body parts. They also have more complicated parts like the pronutum or coxa. The outer wings protect the more soft delicate wings. Beetles use horns to either hunt or defend. Beetles use their hard outer covering so if they get dropped the pain won't get into the beetle's body.
Babies
The baby beetle is the larva. [shown below] The larva stage starts right after the egg hatches. The beetles stay in the larva stage from 3 to 5 years!!! When the larva come out from their eggs they start eating their egg shell. After the larva stage comes the pupa stage.
Protection
Beetles have many ways to protect themselves. The Bombardier beetle shoots boiling hot liquid into it's attacker's face. Some beetles like the rhino beetle use their long horns to take down their prey. The assassin beetle can take down almost any insect. It sucks somthing out of the prey's body then the assassin eats the prey.
Species of beetles
Line up every animal in the world an every 4 will be a beetle. Out all of the the insects in the world 1/3 of those insects are out numberd by beetles!!! Only a few beetles are the size of a man's fist like the Goliath beetle. The population of beetles is so large that they could live almost anywhere including Antarctica!!! In some beetle species there arn't any male beetles.