The name of the taxonomic order, Coleoptera, comes from the Greek koleopteros (κολεόπτερος), given to … See more

Beetles are by far the largest order of insects: the roughly 400,000 species make up about 40% of all insect species so far described, and about 25% of all animal species. A 2015 study provided four independe… See more

The oldest known beetle is Coleopsis, from the earliest Permian (Asselian) of Germany, around 295 million years ago. Early beetles from the Permian, which are collectively grouped into the "Protocoleoptera" … See more

The very large number of beetle species poses special problems for classification. Some families contain tens of thousands of species, and need to be divided into subfamilies and tribes. Polyphaga is the largest sub… See more

Beetles are generally characterized by a particularly hard exoskeleton and hard forewings (elytra) not usable for flying. Almost all beetles have mandibles that move in a horizontal plane. The mouthparts are rarely s… See more