Beetle

Adephaga

Anatomy

Bearing in mind the wide diversity and number of species the anatomy of beetles is quite uniform. Beetles are generally characterised by a particularly hard exoskeleton, and the hard wing-cases (elytra) which tend to cover the hind part of the body and protect the second wings, the alae. The elytra are not used in flying, but generally must be raised in order to move the hindwings. In some cases the ability to fly has been lost, characteristically in families such as Carabidae and Curculionidae. After landing, the hindwings are folded below the elytra.

Related Topics:
Anatomy - Exoskeleton - Elytra - Alae - Flying - Carabidae - Curculionidae

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In a few families, both the ability to fly and the wing-cases have been lost, with the best known example being the "glowworms" of the family Phengodidae, in which the females are larviform throughout their lives.

Related Topics:
Glowworm - Phengodidae - Larviform

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The bodies of beetles are divided into three sections, the head, the thorax, and the abdomen, and these in themselves may be composed of several further segments.

Related Topics:
Thorax - Abdomen

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The eyes are compound, and may display some remarkable adabtability, as in the case of the Whirligig beetles (family Gyrinidae), in which the eyes are split to allow a view both above and below the waterline. The dorsal appendage aids the beetle in stalking prey.

Related Topics:
Compound - Whirligig beetle

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Antennae can vary greatly and may be filiform, claviform, flabellate or genticulate.

Related Topics:
Antennae - Filiform - Claviform - Flabellate - Genticulate

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Oxygen is taken in via a tracheal system: this takes air in through a series of tubes along the body which is then taken into increasingly finer fibres. Pumping movements of the body force the air through the system. Although beetles have blood, it is not used for oxygen transference, although a heart is present.

Related Topics:
Oxygen - Trachea - Blood - Heart

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