page_title: Beetle
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Beetle / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: Long-horn Beetle - Ecyrus dasycerus, Leesylvania State Park, Woodbridge, Virginia. yet another example of great camouflage
context_page_description: Beetles are a group of insects that form the order Coleoptera, in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are 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, with some 83,000 member species,
  belongs to this order. Found in almost every habitat except the sea and the polar regions, they interact with their ecosystems in several ways: beetles often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are serious agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle, while others such as Coccinellidae eat aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops.
  Beetles typically have a particularly hard exoskeleton including the elytra, though some such as the rove beetles have very short elytra while blister beetles have softer elytra.
caption: A camouflaged longhorn beetle, Ecyrus dasycerus
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