Calling All Coleoptera

The great biologist J. B. S. Haldane liked to say that if biology had taught him anything about the nature of the Creator, it was that he had “an inordinate fondness for beetles.”

Taxonomically, beetles are in the order Coleoptera, and unlike spiders, they are insects. There are more species of beetle on Earth than any other kind of life. In fact, there are more species of beetle than there are species of plants. Estimates range up to about 8 million species! Fully 25 percent of all known life forms on Earth are beetles. These little chitinous buggers must be doing lots of things very well to have that kind of success.

Beetles can live in almost any climate or habitat, from jungles to deserts, and even under water. They come in every color, including metallics and pastels. A designer's dream, as it were.

We love some beetles, like the ladybug. And the June Bug too, Zach had a pet June Bug last year as you may recall. A species of Dung Beetle commonly called a Scarab Beetle was sacred to the ancient Egyptians.

Others have gained our ire over the years, including the scourge of the southern cotton crops, the Boll Weevil. At least a few pests that we often think are beetles, such as the cockroach, are not beetles at all (a good way to tell is the elytra...beetles do not have overlapping wings).

But love them or hate them, know that they were here long before us (beetles entered the fossil record during the Lower Permian, about 300 million years ago), and they will likely be here long after we are gone.

So this spring when you come face-to-antennae with one of these wonderful creatures, remember that you're looking at the most successful and varied life form on the planet. What a bug!