Beetles
Coleoptera
Beetles are a group of insects that form the order Coleoptera, in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings is hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal life-forms; new species are discovered frequently. The largest of all families, the Curculionidae (weevils) with some 70,000 member species, belongs to...
4 branches of this order, most-observed first
Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf, and Snout Beetles
suborderPolyphaga
Ground and Water Beetles
suborderAdephaga
Reticulated and Telephone-pole Beetles
suborderArchostemata
Minute Bog and Skiff Beetles
suborderMyxophaga
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Coleoptera in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 47208.