A Little Bit More
Beetles are members of the order Coleoptera (ko-lee-OP-ter-ah) or the “sheath-winged” insects. This name refers to the wing sheaths, or elytra (coleo = sheath; ptera = wing) that beetles possess. When their wings are folded, the elytra come together in a straight line down the middle of the back, usually extending over the whole abdomen. During a beetle’s slow, somewhat labored flight, the elytra are held out at an angle from the body and although they don’t flap, are reported to contribute lift and stability. Although most species can fly, there are many different ones that cannot.
The number and diversity of beetles is amazing. Fossil records of beetles go back more than 200 million years; plenty of time to evolve and diversify into the complex order they now represent. There are approximately 60,000 different kinds of vertebrate species in the world – that’s fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals - compared to more than 350,000 different kinds of beetles! Beetles can be found almost everywhere in the world and vary in size from tiny species only 0.5mm to “giants” over 15cm in length. To emphasize the great difference between the smallest and largest beetle species, it has been estimated that it would take about forty million of the smallest to equal the weight of just one of the largest! No doubt about it, this is an impressive group of animals!
Activities
Science & Art – Look Closely
Objectives: Hone observational skills
Materials: Print out the beetle illustration that’s provided, coloring materials of your choice, field guide or online access
One of the most important skills a scientist can possess is an ability to be a good observer. This skill allows scientists to see things the general public often misses. There are exercises that help us all observe more carefully and one that I feel that is especially valuable is using an artist’s eye to improve observational skills. This exercise will require that you or your students carefully observe an animal (we’ll use photographs instead of a live animal) so it can be rendered in the appropriate colors to make as life-like as possible. The idea here isn’t to see who is the best artist, the idea is to be a good observer and translate what one sees into a finished product.
If you look through a field guide of insects or go online, you’ll see a wide range of colors, shapes, patterns and sizes of beetles. If you look at these beetles carefully through an artist’s eye, you’ll see many differences but also lots of similarities too.
Activity #1
Use a field guide or use online access to see some pictures of a Caterpillar Hunter Calosoma scrutator (see illustration below). This should provide enough information for you to color in the illustration I’ve provided. Depending on the grade level and intent of the instructor, render your colored version of the beetle as life-like as possible. Concentrate on getting the shading of the colors to make your beetle look shiny and bright.
Caterpillar Hunter photos
Activity #2
This activity can be a straight forward labeling of the major beetle body parts of the illustration. Take a look at these websites for help and then have students label those body parts they can see on the illustration we’ve provided that match what they’ve found in the reference material. Make sure spelling is correct and have lines going to the labeled parts so the finished product is clearly labeled.
Beetle Anatomy
A bit more detailed Anatomy
Key Concepts
Identification, Adaptations and Diversity
Questions
Do you have a question for a naturalist? Go ahead and ask!
It's easy -- just fill out this form, submit your question and you'll receive an answer shortly.