Nature is diverse and amazing - it is impossible not to admire its creatures, our smaller brothers. However, although everyone is touched by baby mammals, insects seem “disgusting” and “frightening” to many. But these creatures are necessary for our ecosystem. Beetles, also known as Coleoptera, can help pollinate flowers and perform a sanitary function in the forest. Many of them have a special beauty, which is certainly noticed by children (they, as a rule, enjoy playing with beetles) and for some reason are undeservedly ignored by adults. Here is a selection of fourteen of the most beautiful beetles on the planet. We hope that your attitude towards these creatures will change, because some representatives of the species are on the verge of extinction and need protection.
Golden turtle
The “golden turtle” can rightfully be called the most beautiful beetle in the world. It looks like a jewel come to life - you could easily imagine it as a pendant on a pendant.
A very interesting fact about this “miracle of nature” is that the golden turtle can change its color depending on the level of humidity, stress or in case of death.
The “Golden Turtle” is a distant relative of the Colorado potato beetle, which is hated by all owners of gardens and summer cottages.
This beautiful bug is quite small - its size does not exceed 5-7 mm. This insect is widespread in North America.
Goliath beetle
Goliath is a very large and beautiful beetle. Imagine, it can weigh as much as 100 grams and occupy almost the entire human palm!
This beauty comes from Africa, where it is distributed in almost all areas. Adults prefer to live in trees and come to the ground only occasionally in search of food. Collectors are eager to acquire goliath specimens because of their impressive size and beautiful coloration - these beetles have an unusual marbled pattern.
The black parts of the pattern on the back of the beetle are very pleasant and velvety to the touch. Unfortunately, due to constant trapping, the goliath beetle is in danger.
Southern weevil
Appearance
The habitat of this beetle is the republics of the Ciscaucasia and Transcaucasia, southwestern Ukraine, and Moldova. The color of the scales covering the body of this weevil is gray-brown. An adult individual has a body size of almost 8 mm, very developed wings and a massive head. The larva of this insect has a curved shape and is white in color.
In winter, the insect spends time up to a meter deep in the ground and emerges from there in early spring. After twelve days, southern weevils begin to actively reproduce and lay their eggs. Moreover, such a clutch can number over two hundred small eggs, pre-laid in the ground. Ripe after twelve days, the small larvae of the southern weevil begin to quickly eat all the roots of various crops.
Pupation of the larvae of the southern weevil takes place in the ground for twenty days. In the very first week of hot August, beetles crawl out of the ground; for further wintering, they again burrow deep into the ground. The full development cycle of the insect is completed; an entire generation is raised in one year.
Harm
The southern weevil is a pest, as it spoils tobacco, corn, sunflower, and beet fields. Currently, the following methods are used to combat this insect:
- Regular weeding.
- Insecticidal treatment of all seedlings.
- Spatial complete isolation of agricultural fields from possible wintering of dangerous pests.
- Elimination of repeated corn sowing on one agricultural field.
- Sowing until small harmful larvae mature.
Zlatka
The goldenrod is a beetle with a very beautiful bright green metallic color, which is how it got its name. They even make jewelry from these beetles, and the British call the golden beetle nothing more than a jewel beetle, which translates as “jewelry beetle.”
Zlatki are distributed mainly in southern Asia, but they can also be found in Russia - in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk territories. The favorite habitats of borers are ash and walnut.
Most often, borers appear in June, and their lifespan does not exceed three weeks. These beetles can cause damage to trees, but their numbers are kept in check by predators and parasites.
Bronzovka
Another beautiful shiny bug. The bronze beetle also includes the well-known inhabitant of summer cottages - the cockchafer.
Some bronzes have the most common black color, without any hint of a beautiful metallic sheen. These beetles are much faster than their other flying counterparts. Shiny bronzes can be green, blue, copper and purple and gold.
Unfortunately, these beautiful beetles are pests - they eat young fruits of fruit crops, cabbage, carrots, and beet leaves, and also gnaw out the stamens and pistils of flowers, which makes their further pollination impossible.
Picasso beetle
The Picasso beetle is also called the “sink bug.” This unusual insect lives in Ethiopia and Cameroon. Its bright color serves to scare away potential enemies.
Strictly speaking, the Picasso beetle is not a beetle at all, but a bug.
Like all bedbugs, this beauty has the ability to release a pungent, foul-smelling liquid. When shield bugs gather in large groups, they can cause significant damage to plants.
Ladybug
This insect is very common in our latitudes, and everyone has seen a ladybug at least once in their life. Ladybugs are very often elevated to the rank of mystical creatures - there are many folk superstitions associated with them, and in some cultures killing a ladybug is considered a serious crime. A small beetle with black spots on a red back really looks very cute, and, unlike other insects, does not cause negative emotions at all.
The lifespan of a ladybug is about a year, and the older the insect, the more faded its color becomes. Despite such a harmless appearance, ladybugs are true predators (with the exception of some species). They deal with aphids and other agricultural pests.
Fighting methods
Methods for protecting plants from the family of borers depends on which species has invaded the plants. But there are several general rules that will help save plantings.
- Agricultural technology . These are a number of ways that will help improve your immunity. These include: constant pruning, thinning, preventive spraying.
- Mechanical shaking or removing beetles from trees or shrubs. If you find passages similar to the holes of the borer, immediately clean the bark and treat the trunk.
- Biological method , which involves the use of safe pesticides that cause the death of many harmful insects.
- Spraying with insecticides . In the spring or after harvest, spray all parts of infected trees, as well as the soil under them.
Alpine barbel
This beetle can be found not only in the Alps - it lives in the Caucasus, the Carpathians, and the Crimea. Handsome longhorned beetles prefer to live in mountain forests.
They live, as a rule, on old and decaying beeches, maples and oaks. Unfortunately, the alpine longhorned beetle is now on the verge of extinction, and its population is constantly declining. This beetle can have not only a blue color - there are individuals with black, gray, and even pale pink hair.
Longhorned beetles are extremely thermophilic, so they can only be seen from July to September.
Lifestyle
The beetle flight is observed in May-June and lasts until the end of August. Longhorned beetles are active and mobile insects. They can be found in good weather in a forest clearing or mixed-grass meadow. Adults feed on flowers, preferring umbelliferous ones. They fly actively in hot sunny weather. Longhorned beetles feed on pollen on hogweed, elecampane, hawthorn, spirea, thistle, rubus, and thistle. Additional nutrition is a must before mating. The fertilized female lays eggs in groups in crevices in tree bark.
Development of offspring
The larvae of Leptura fourstripes have a structure characteristic of the offspring of woodcutter beetles. They have a fleshy white body with a black head and brown chest plate. The prothorax is greatly enlarged, the head is almost buried in it. Simple ocelli are located near the short 3-segmented antennae. The abdomen consists of 9 segments, 6 of them have callous growths for movement along the passages. This is a distinctive feature of the species; the larvae of other longhorned beetles have convexities on 7 segments. There are no legs. The abdomen has 9 pairs of spiracles, one on each segment.
Larvae develop in groups in old rotting wood. Up to 10 inhabitants are found in one birch trunk. They settle in the lower part of trunks, stumps, felled branches with a diameter of at least 15 cm. The offspring live in wet and dry wood, but the second option is preferable to speed up pupation. The pupa is free, parts of its body are clearly distinguishable. The food supply for the larvae is provided by many trees: alder, oak, poplar, willow, elderberry, aspen and birch. Development continues for 2-3 years. Natural enemies of leptura larvae are birds. Woodpeckers and other insectivorous species are aware of the presence of larvae in rotten trunks. They easily get prey from under the bark.
Information. The parasitic species of the braconid family Henson ruspator parasitizes leptura larvae.
Fanous
Fan whisker beetles are known precisely for their gorgeous mustache, consisting of at least twenty segments and resembling thickly painted eyelashes.
They are so rare that they are one of the least studied representatives of their species today. Fanwhiskers live in Australia and can only grow up to 25 millimeters.
Whiskers serve males to pick up pheromones from females of their species, and to understand how ready the female is for mating. The number of male fanwhiskers significantly exceeds the number of females, so they often have to fight among themselves for a fertile individual.
Fruited nut
This is a very small bug with a very long proboscis, which is also often called the nut weevil. The nut fruit can be found in the European part of Russia and the Caucasus. The beetle's body is completely covered in brownish-yellow hairs, making it look like a miniature version of a sparrow.
Fruit veins emerge at the end of spring, when the weather is warm enough. They feed on leaves, hazel fruits, hazelnuts and acorns. Weevil larvae eat the nut kernel and fill its cavity with excrement. They are considered pests and are actively destroyed by owners of summer cottages.
Striped click beetle (Agriotes linecrtus L)
This is one of the most famous representatives of woodcutting beetles. Within the former USSR, the genus Cerambyx is represented by seven species. The most famous of them, if not famous, is the barbel. It is famous not only for its impressive size - adult beetles reach 65 mm in length - but also for its beauty and at the same time the harm it causes.
Like many movie stars or pop artists, the mustache is not content with one name and often appears in literature under “pseudonyms.” They call it oak barbel, large oak barbel, common black oak barbel, craftsman barbel. In Ukraine, in a number of places, the beetle has very strange names: chamois and even knight.
Spreading. In addition to Russia, Ukraine and Transcaucasia, the large oak longhorn beetle is found in Western Europe, North Africa, Iran and Turkey.
External signs. The beetle itself is pitch-black and shiny. The black elytra are smooth and only at the apex is the hair visible, which has a reddish-red tint.
Our hero has a magnificent mustache. In females they are equal to the body length, and in males they significantly exceed it. Just like the beetle's abdomen, the antennae are silky to the touch. Their first segment is densely and strongly punctured and therefore looks matte; the second segment is almost the same in length as in width. These characteristics distinguish the great oak longhorned beetle from other representatives of the same genus, and taxonomists use them in their identification tables.
The adult larva reaches a gigantic length for representatives of our entomofauna - 90 mm with a width of 18 - 20 mm. J. Fabre compared them to “crawling pieces of intestine.” Brown or reddish head with three eyes, very small. But it has powerful black upper jaws. The fleshy yellowish-white larvae have a very large prothorax.
The larva's legs are small - and it doesn't really need them. Inside the passages in the wood, the larvae move with the help of special growths on the dorsal and ventral sides, which are called calluses.
Lifestyle. The longhorned beetle prefers very sparse oak forests with isolated trees to dark, dense forests with regrowth and undergrowth. It is often found in tree stands that have been lightened during logging. It prefers to inhabit old oaks aged 120 - 140 or more years with thick, cracked bark.
Occasionally, the longhorned beetle also settles on other deciduous trees and shrubs: walnut, chestnut, beech, ash, pear, apple, hazel and hawthorn. When choosing a bush, the female is clearly making a mistake. Although an egg can be laid on one of them, it is unlikely that the larva that emerges from it will be able to complete development on it and turn into a full-fledged beetle.
The flight of beetles begins in May and continues until July. Beetles usually fly during the day. Although in warm weather you can occasionally see a barbel flying with a roar, like a strategic bomber, in the evening.
A sure way to find a handsome one is to carefully examine the oak trees, from whose trunks gum sap flows. It’s his smell that usually attracts them to feast on something sweet (remember the stag beetle?). Later, having colonized the tree, the longhorned beetles themselves provoke gum production. As if anticipating its imminent death, the tree begins to “cry” - secrete juice from the fresh flight holes of the beetles.
One of the most important conditions in the choice of food substrate for the oak longhorn beetle, and also for other wood-boring beetles, is the quality of the tree being inhabited. The vast majority of species settle in dead wood or wood that has begun to rot. Only a few are able to develop from living tissue and inhabit relatively healthy trees. It is these species that claim to be the most serious physiological pests. These include the large oak barbel.
After flying back and forth, the female, with the help of her well-developed sense of smell (that’s why she has such a luxurious mustache; males need them for another purpose - to find a girlfriend), finds a suitable tree based on signs only known to her. Now you can start laying eggs. She arranges them in the cracks of the bark one at a time. In total, the female lays up to 100 eggs during her short three-month life. The egg and the larva that has just emerged from it are easily vulnerable to a variety of enemies: birds, parasitic and predatory insects, spiders. The larva seems to know about this: it strives to quickly hide, to dig into the thick oak bark. The larva spends its first summer in its thickness. By autumn, it is no longer a helpless little thing, but a solid creature up to 2 cm long. The next summer, the larvae move into the sapwood, and only then penetrate the wood and gnaw passages in it. By the second autumn, the larva reaches a length of 50 - 60 mm.
The larva slowly crawls in the depths of the wood, literally eating its way through. With its strong jaws, it bites off piece by piece from the body of a powerful oak tree and swallows it. The larval passages are oval in diameter; they are filled with brown wood shavings mixed with excrement.
In the third summer, the larva completes its development and, already in mid-June, begins to prepare a “springboard” for its release next spring. Shortly before pupation, it changes the direction of its movement, rushing towards the bark, and in the end it gnaws out the cradle with it. But first, the larva makes an exit hole in the bark and immediately clogs it with a plug of coarse wood particles and delicate fibers. And only after that it pupates.
The total length of the stroke by the end of the larva’s life can reach 1 m!
In the spring, the beetle that emerges from the pupa will only have to gnaw through a very thin partition, “knock down the door” with its forehead and get out into the wild. Thus, the development of the oak longhorned beetle lasts 3 years.
We have already said that woodcutter beetles, like all other insects, have enemies. The eternal enemies of our “hero beetle” are woodpeckers. These woodcutters are always happy to feast on fatty larvae. Although they are not easy to get to. Small and large larvae, penetrating into their passages, can be destroyed by predatory beetles - pied beetles, little beetles, and click beetles. Larvae and pupae, and sometimes immature young beetles, are eaten by the larvae of predatory dipterans (flies). The eggs of the great oak longhorned beetle are inhabited by the parasitic hymenopteran insect Oobius rudnevi. Other larger parasites are also known that attack our hero. But these larvae are considered a delicacy by already “moderately well-fed” larvae.
Role in nature. Of all oak wood pests, this species is the most dangerous. Physiological harm is noticeable already in the second year of larval life. When a tree is heavily infested, the foliage changes color and wilts. The ends of the young shoots dry out and dryness appears. The technical damage caused by the longhorned beetle is very great. The most valuable wood, worn by larval passages, is only suitable for firewood.
It is difficult to fight oak longhorn beetle.
Ordinary trapping trees are not suitable for this, since the longhorned beetle, as a rule, does not lay eggs on cut down or lying trees. Previously, at the time of the existence of vast old oak forests, they first of all tried to cut down trees infected with longhorn beetle and immediately after cutting down all oak stumps were uprooted or sanded.
Now the times have come. Perennial oak forests, the former beauty and pride of Russian lands, have disappeared. After all, they once approached Moscow itself from the south.
The hero of our story, the large oak barbel, has also become rare. Since the early 80s, along with a number of other wonderful animals, it has been included in the Red Book as a species that is declining in number and subject to protection. So the former wrecker found himself under the protection of the state.
elephant beetle
This beetle got its name due to its very impressive size - one of the largest insects on the planet. Typically, elephant beetles grow up to 12 centimeters in length.
Males have an impressive horn on their heads, which is used in fights with members of their own species and potential enemies. This beetle can be found in Mexico, Central America and Australia. It's surprising, but many Russians keep elephant beetles in their apartments as pets - despite the fact that the lifespan of these insects does not exceed five weeks.
In their natural habitat, elephant beetles feed on tree sap. And at home, caring owners feed them lychees and pineapples - and the beetles happily eat the fruit.
Description
Bronze beetles are beetles with an oblong-oval and wide body and a small head, which is directed forward and lowered slightly down. Depending on the species, the insect grows up to 8–30 mm in length. On the head of the insect there are black antennae consisting of 10 segments, eyes and mouthparts. The dorsum is most often covered with hairs, but can be smooth.
The wings of bronze birds are well developed. They are distinguished from most lamellar beetles by the presence of special cutouts on the elytra. Through them, the insect releases its wings to rise into the air, while the elytra themselves remain tightly folded on the back.
Another feature of these insects are light scaly dots on the pronotum, chest, elytra, and legs. They come in different sizes, sometimes merging and covering most of the body.
The structure of the legs helps the beetles dig the ground - there are teeth on the outer edges of the fore tibia.
The insect larvae are large, C-shaped - their body is widened in the middle and curved like a hump. The integument is soft and translucent, white. The head capsule of the larvae is sclerotized and has 4 antennae.
Only some species of larvae have eyes. The legs are long, vaguely divided into segments. There are no claws on the limbs. Bronze larvae can move on their backs.
Brazilian bigtooth lumberjack
One of the largest beetles in the world - the size of the largest individual of the Brazilian bigtooth woodcutter is 17.8 cm. It lives in the forests of Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.
This insect spends up to ten years in the larval stage, but the life of an adult woodcutter, alas, is limited to several months. Thanks to its very impressive size and beautiful colors, this beetle is a dream for any collector.
Dried specimens are considered an excellent interior decoration. Beetles are very expensive, but this does not bother exotic lovers - they like the opportunity to frame this rare and beautiful insect, and they are ready to pay any money for it.
Features of life
The insect development cycle takes 2 years, in the northern regions - 3 years, and an adult beetle (imago) lives 1 year. Before becoming an adult, the bronze fly goes through the stages of egg, larva and pupa.
Most bronzes emerge from hibernation when many fruit trees have already bloomed.
Mating of insects occurs in mid-summer. Females lay 15–20 eggs under rotten stumps, in manure and compost heaps. After a few weeks, voracious larvae appear. They do not touch plants, but feed on organic debris.
The larva enters the pupal stage only the next year. During this time, she molts 2 times and spends the winter in hibernation. With the onset of summer, the larvae form a cocoon around themselves from their own secretion and turn into pupae, and after 2 weeks an adult beetle emerges from the cocoon.
Insects are active in warm and sunny weather. In cloudy and cool weather, they hide in a shelter or sit motionless on flowers. A bronzefish sitting on a flower seems clumsy and can be easily picked up. But she comes out of this state unexpectedly, moves to the edge of the flower and quickly takes off. In the air, the insect maneuvers in large circles and is difficult to catch, but when it bumps into a person or objects, it cannot go around the obstacle and falls to the ground.
Stag beetle
If you come across a stag beetle, please do not harm it - they are absolutely harmless to humans, and their population is declining, which is why they are listed in the Red Book.
Stag beetles are in danger due to deforestation, sanitary treatment of trees, and people accidentally finding the beetles and regularly taking them home out of curiosity. The stag beetle is one of the largest beetles living in Europe - its size reaches eight to nine centimeters. In ancient times, there was a special attitude towards these beetles - dried specimens were used as an amulet to scare away enemies and were worn around the neck. The stag beetle got its name because of its developed upper jaws, reminiscent of antlers. Developed jaws are found only in males of this species, and are used for males of this species to fight among themselves and scare off ill-wishers.
Gray beet weevil
Appearance
This beetle can be found almost throughout Russia, because it is not picky about living conditions. Its body is 12 millimeters and covered with a thick coat of dark hair. The beetle has a short proboscis, a thick head, and the elytra of the beetle are equipped with special tubercles. At the same time, the hind wings of the pest are not developed. The initially curved larva, small at the very end of its development, reaches 12 millimeters.
The larvae of this weevil are able to overwinter in the ground even in very severe cold and frost, as they burrow to a total depth of up to half a meter.
Harm
Adult beetles of this species can easily cross vast territories, so quickly flying from one area to another is not a problem for them.
These small beetles cause great harm to beets, which is why they are called that. They easily bite through the stems and gnaw on young leaves. In May, the first larvae of the pest appear, which damage the roots of the young plant, preventing it from developing normally in the future.
In order to protect crops from beet weevil, the following methods are used:
- Alternate sowing beets with sowing a variety of perennial plants.
- Treatment of all seeds with special means.
- Tiered plowing, which reduces the proliferation of harmful beetles.
Hercules beetle
Another very large beetle in our selection. The record documented adult size is 17 centimeters.
The back of the Hercules beetle is covered with fine light red hairs, and the head and pronotum are glossy black.
Very rarely there are individuals with a blue color. The Hercules beetle has large horns on its head. Females of this species do not have horns, and are usually darker than males.
Diamond Beetle
Compared to other heroes of our selection, the diamond beetle is very tiny - it does not grow more than three centimeters. Its body is black, with rows of bright green dots, and its wings have a golden-green hue.
You can see the diamond beetle only in Brazil - there are so many of these insects there that tree branches bend under their weight. Previously, dried specimens of diamond beetles were often used to make jewelry. It was for these purposes that diamond beetles once began to be supplied en masse to Europe.
