COLEOPTERA

• Beetles
• Largest insect order. More than 250,000 known species. About 40% of all insect species belongs to this order.
• Size from very small (< 1 mm) to very big (± 125 mm)
• Vary in their habits. Found almost everywhere. Economic important.
• Identification by structure of their wings (2 pairs of wings).
• Front wings thickened, leathery or hard. Front wings (elytra) meet in a straight line in the middle of the back, not used for flying.
• Hind wings are longer than elytra, membranous, used for flying, in rest folded and hidden under elytra.
• Mouthparts chewing, mandibles well developed.
• Complete metamorphosis.
• Larvae variable in different families.
• Found in many different habitats, most on land, others subterranean or aquatic.
• Feeding on all kind of plant and animal material. Phytophagous, predaceous, scavengers, mold/fungi, parasitic.

Families

The order Coleoptera is divided into a number of families. Some families containing important agricultural pests are:

• Scarabaeidae = Scarab beetles
• Buprestidae = Buprestids
• Bostrychidae = Shot-hole borers
• Coccinellidae = Ladybird beetles
• Tenebrionidae =
• Lagriidae =
• Meloidae = Blister beetles
• Chrysomelidae = Leaf beetles
• Curculionidae = Weevils or Snout beetles
• Bruchidae = Bruchids or Seed weevils
• Cerambicidae = Longhorns