coleopteran

Table of Contents

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

African goliath beetle

asparagus beetle

seven-spotted ladybird beetles

metallic wood-boring beetle

dermestid beetle

larva of the seven-spotted ladybird beetle

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Close up of praying mantis walking on stone ground against a blurred background in Japan

6 Animals That Eat Their Mates

Dancers at a Cinco de Mayo festival at the Mission District, San Francisco, California. (Photo dated 2019.) holidays

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Periodical Cicada, Adult, Magicicada spp. Requires 17 years to complete development. Nymph splits its skin, and transforms into an adult. Feeds on sap of tree roots. Northern Illinois Brood. This brood is the largest emergence of cicadas anywhere

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The United States Supreme Court building, Washington, D.C.

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Big beaver gnawing on limb at river's edge

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coleopteran: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

News •

Behind a Museum Door, These Beetles Are Eating Flesh for Science • May 14, 2025, 9:11 AM ET (New York Times)

Facts

Also Known As	coleopteran • Coleoptera

Photos and Videos

African goliath beetle

asparagus beetle

seven-spotted ladybird beetles

metallic wood-boring beetle

dermestid beetle

larva of the seven-spotted ladybird beetle

Discover how scavengers prevent illnesses caused by microbes and other pathogens that inhabit the carcasses they consume

Know how scientist by using synchrotron radiation, revealed the bombardier beetles defensive mechanism of spraying hot liquids in a series of pulses

Find how the Canadian forests are infested and destroyed by the mountain pine beetles

See a colony of hornets battle with a stag beetle for access to tree sap

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

Archostemata Adephaga Colopterus truncatus Elleschodes Polyphaga Myxophaga water beetle Staphylinoidea Chrysomeloidea Byrrhoidea Lepidoptera annelid heteropteran Hymenoptera crustacean dipteran mollusk arachnid neuropteran Odonata

Key People

René Jeannel

French biologist

Quiz

wasp. Vespid Wasp (Vespidaea) with antennas and compound eyes drink nectar from a cherry. Hornets largest eusocial wasps, stinging insect in the order Hymenoptera, related to bees. Pollination

Know Your Bugs Quiz

Green tree python snake (Chondropython viridis) in a rainforest.

Creepy Crawlers Quiz

Lion (panthera leo)

Deadliest Animals Quiz

Lion (panthera leo)

Deadliest Animals Quiz

vulture. An adult bearded vulture at a raptor recovery center. The Gypaetus barbatus also known as the Lammergeier or Lammergeyer, is a bird of prey and considered an Old World vulture.

Animal Factoids

Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters

Animal Group Names

Mute swan with cygnet. (birds)

Match the Baby Animal to Its Mama Quiz

List

Aedes aegypti mosquito, a carrier of yellow fever, dengue, and dengue hemorrhagic fever.

10 Questions About Insects Answered