Beetles

Order; Coleoptera

Check out these pages on beetles we have found in Western Australia plus lots of 'info on beetles from all over Australia. Due to the lack of texts on beetles in Western Australia it is very difficult to identify beetle species and to determine those native or introduced. We do not kill any insects for identification, they are photographed on location in their natural habitat.

We apologise for the misidentifications we may have made.

Beetles vary greatly between the species and it is not possible to show all these differences here.

Life cycle

EGGS - LARVAE - PUPAE - ADULTS

Beetles have a complete metamorphosis.
Some beetles life cycle will change due to the weather or food conditions, others wont.

Eggs are usually laid where the food source is for the larvae e.g. the soil for ground beetles or in plant stems for plant eating beetle larvae etc.
A different amount of eggs are laid depending on the species.
The eggs are small and are not usually sculptured or decorated like the butterfly or moths eggs except for the eggs of the Leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae family).

The eggs hatch and larvae, commonly called grubs, feed and go through moults or instars, usually around 3-5.
The growth can take from around a few weeks to several years depending on the species and the weather conditions.
The time it takes from the hatching of the egg to the first casting or shedding is one instar or moult.
Most beetle larvae have legs and are predators, some larvae look like grubs.
Larvae usually fend or feed themselves but in some species both the male and female work together to feed their young the food it requires.
Some larvae that feed on fungi have a special relationship with the fungi. By eating the fungi they carry the fungi's spores to a new host.
Most larvae don't have prolegs like the caterpillar larvae from butterflies or moths, however a few do.

This photograph is of a ladybird pupa magnified 60x.

They then go into the pupa stage where they emerge as an adult. This can be done on the plant where they hatched; in soil, mud, dry earth, faeces material (poo) or bored from wood by the last instar of a larvae.
Beetle larvae are not like caterpillars that spin a cocoon or chrysalis. Some beetle species like the ladybirds pupate in the open on a leaf.

Longicorn and weevil larvae construct a calcified cocoon.

Adults

Beetles have a head thorax and abdomen with six legs.
The legs and wings are attached to the thorax at different places.
They all have mandible mouthparts for biting and chewing their food.
Beetles have compound eyes, two pairs of wings.   The outer pair are hardened and are known as the wing case or elytra which protects the more delicate membrane wings underneath.
The pygidium is the last segment of the abdomen and can often be seen from under the wing case or elytra.
Beetles come in many different colours due to the pigments in the outside body layer (called cuticle).
The colour patterns of many beetles are produced by different tinted hairs and scales.
The primary function of an insect is to grow and find a mate to reproduce. Finding a mate is achieved differently by different beetles.  Some beetles will then die others will live to have another batch of eggs or mate and some beetles will live for years.

What plants and food are important to Beetles?

Plant material is vital to beetles as with all living things. Beetles feed on a variety of food. How many food sources can you think of that beetles would feed on? Did you get all of these?

Soil, grasses, dung, dead animals (carrion), different forms of fungi, palm fronds, plant stems, leaf litter and ground debris, animal nests; including stealing the food from ants and in return they secrete from their hairs to feed the ants; under bark of living trees, dead trees and logs, cones and seed pods, the surface of bark, pollen and nectar, living leaves, water and some beetles live in caves too.
Also from animals such as birds or mammals, some beetles will eat their lice, ticks and other parasites.
Other beetles such as the tiger beetles are predators of other invertebrates they follow the bored out tunnels of other insects and pounce on their prey.
Some adult beetles do not eat at all.
Not all beetles live and feed in the same place, they usually have their own food source that each different beetle species need to eat and this is where they will live.

Beetles

*Beetles chew.
*Beetles have larvae and a complete metamorphosis.
*Beetles breathe with their spiracles that open into a cavity or space enclosed by the wing case and the upper surface of the abdomen.
*Beetles are the only insects to have a hardened wing case or elyrta.

Cockroaches are not beetles or bugs.

Bugs

*Bugs suck.
*Bugs have nymph's- little versions of the adult which is incomplete metamorphosis.
*Bug spiracles take in air to breathe on the sides of the bugs abdomen and open directly to the external environment.
*Stink bugs have a protective wing case or elytra but it is not hard like in beetles.
*Bugs are in a different order named Hemiptera.

See our page on Bugs for cool pictures and amazing information.

What do beetles do for the environment?

They are a food source for birds, frogs, reptiles, fish, mammals and marsupials.
Dung beetles eat and breed on herbivores dung, removing millions of tons of dung from the earth.
Burying beetles bury animal carcasses for their young getting rid of dead animals.
Beetles that live in nests or on fur get rid of lice, fleas, and parasites for birds and animals.
Beetles such as ladybirds eat pests such as aphids and scale which helps protect crops.
A Carabid beetle eats caterpillars which helps crops.
Firefly larvae eat snails and slugs which helps crops.
Beetles like other insects help aerate the soil by digging burrows into it and allowing the rain to seep in better.
The beetles that visit flowers for the nectar and pollen also help to pollinate the plants.

Types of Beetles and Places you Might find them; We are not going to cover all the different beetle families as there are 117 families in Australia known. Some of these beetles are classified by different people into different families, the information given here is just a guide to Australian beetles. We have not had our photographs formally identified. We are mainly talking about Western Australian Beetles and where they can be found in this state, this will vary for other parts of the country.

Ladybirds beetles- Coccinellidae family; There are about 300 species in Australia. We have written a whole page on these interesting insects so please go to our Ladybirds page to see a years work of following the eggs through to larvae to pupa to adults of different ladybird species. Scroll to the top of the page to link through to this page.
Jewel beetles- Buprestidae family; We have given a whole page to jewel beetles.
Weevils- Currculionidae family: We have given a whole page to Weevils.

Scarab beetles- Scarabaeidae family; Some of these beetles are burrowing beetles and some have horns which are used for fighting. They have strong legs for digging.
'Christmas beetles' can do serious damage to eucalyptus leaves which it feeds on. Their larvae feed on roots under ground. Adult Scarab beetles are herbivores and different species feed on different things like rotting wood, flowers nectar, leaves etc. They are mostly active at night.
One of the larvae of the scarab beetle burrows into the trunk of the older Grass Trees or Balga's. Go here to find out more about scarab beetles.
Dung beetles are scarab beetles.

This is the black lawn beetle found often in parks below the grass and is in the scarab family. Magnified 10x

This is a drawing of a Christmas beetle larva which lives underground over winter. They will emerge in Spring as adults. They are also known as "curl grubs".

This is possibly a scarab beetle seen at Mt Cooke, near Perth, in November.

This green shiny beetle was dangling from a spiders web around the lakes edge at Forestdale lake, in Perth, in October. It is possibly a scarab beetle

Here is a large beetle found at Wanna Munna just out of Newman in the Pilbara. Here there are River Gums and a small amount of water. This beetle was also seen at Karijini National Park at Fern Pool in the Pilbara in December. We think it is from the subfamily Cetoniinae of the Scarab beetle family. We hope its not the Christmas beetle Anoplognathus sp that is a pest by eating large amounts of eucalypts.
These beetles have a different wing case that allows their hind wings to unfold without barely lifting their forewings or wing case which means they can fly faster and more accurately. Their larvae live and feed in rotting wood.
Go Here to see our short video of this large beetle.

click this pic to see a larger photograph of Western Australia scarab beetles collected by Keith Carnaby and displayed at Boyup Brook tourist centre where we gained permission to photograph the collection.

This beetle was seen on the beach at Bunbury on December the 1st. It is possibly a scarab beetle.

Click beetles- Elateridae family; These are the beetles that flick themselves into the air doing somersaults to get away from predators. Usually they land on their back when they drop from the plant they were resting on and so they flick themselves into the air to get the right way up.
There are around 800 species.
They have an elongated oval shape
Some are herbivorous and eat plant roots, others are predators feeding on insect larvae.
The slender larvae of click beetles can go through fourteen instars or moults and are hard-skinned. They are liquid feeders.
One larvae is called the True Wireworms as they eat seeds such as wheat that is germinating and are a pest to crops.
Most click beetles have a one year life cycle but some species can live for more than 5 years as a larva in the ground.
They pupate deep in the soil.

Adult beetles are seen more in summer at night and are attracted to lights.

This is possibly a click beetle. There are backward facing spines at the back of the head.

Go here to find out how they do that amazing leap into the air without the help of a trampoline. http://www.ento.csiro.au/Ecowatch/
Coleoptera/elateridae.htm

Longhorned or Longicorn beetles- Cerambycidae family; They are named after their very long antennae of the adults. Some adults of this species eats pollen and others eat bark or leaves. There are currently 1200 species listed.
The females lay their eggs under the bark of the tree that the larvae will feed on.
Almost all larvae species feed on wood where they tunnel their way into the tree or branch with their large jaws. The larvae are usually legless, (no not drunk), are creamy in colour, and are long and thin.
The larvae pupate near the surface of the wood at their last instar so they can get out of their small tunnel when they have changed into an adult.
In Western Australia the larva of the ant-longicorn beetle burrow down into the stems of the Red-Eyed Wattle.
The Bardi-grub larva of the longhorned beetle burrows into the trunk of older Grass Trees or Balga's.
Two species of the grey longhorned beetle are found on the coastal White Stemmed Wattle. Longhorned beetles burrow into the large stems of the Common Sheoak or Condil tree and the Salt Sheoak or River Sheoak.
Corkybark trees have the larvae of this beetle burrow into the older dead wood.
The Grey Stinkwood tree has this beetle burrowing into it.
The Spearwood or Pondil tree can sometimes be ring barked by these beetles.

There were two of these beetles in a heap of natural mulch that I had delivered. It is possibly a Longicorn beetle.

This beetle was found at Forestdale Lake in Perth in October.

The larvae of some longhorned beetles along with other wood boring insects eat the wood of the Marri tree or Red Gum and the Lesser Bloodwood tree, which causes it to bleed that sticky dark red gum.

Go Here to see our video of a possible Longicorn or Longhorned beetle filmed at Bakers Hill in the wheatbelt.

Marri Tree

Some beetles in this family mimic wasps.
Go here to see the White spotted beetle http://www.ento..csiro.au/aicn/name_c/a_2930.html
These are holes in Jarrah by wood boring beetles. Wood boring beetles come from different families. Go here to see just how long these antennae can be on a longicorn beetle. http://www.ento.csiro.au/Ecowatch/Coleoptera/cerambycidae.htm
and here http://www.forestry.sa.gov.au/private%20forestry/insect%20fact%20sheets/Fact%
20Sheet%20html/FHS%2018%20Longicorn%20beetles%202.htm

Leaf beetles- Chrysomelidae family; These beetles are closely related to the longicorn beetles mentioned above. This is a large family of around 3000 species in Australia. Sometimes the round shaped beetles in this family are mistaken for ladybirds like the Tortoise beetle.
The young larvae sometimes have spines on their bodies known as 'egg busters' which helps them to break through the egg.
The larvae sometimes tunnel into the stems of the plants.
Both the adults and larvae are herbivores feeding on plant material such as eucalypts being both a pest and a help to agriculture.
The adults of the Paropsis species can be brightly coloured, sometimes vivid red, to show they are not good to eat. The larvae of this species makes the poisonous compound hydrogen cyanide.
One subfamily known as 'flea beetles' have large hind legs that allows them to leap or jump.
Go here to see a leaf beetle. http://www.ento.csiro.au/Ecowatch/Coleoptera/chrysomelidae.htm

Photographed at Culbin Nature Reserve in the wheatbelt in October. This is possibly a scarab or a Leaf beetle.

Water beetles- Gyrinidae and Hydrophilidae families . A diving beetle can carry a bubble of air under its wing case or elytra so that it can go underwater and breathe. It collects this by coming up to the surface backwards and poking out the tip of its abdomen out of the water which draws in the air bubble. Some water beetles trap air in the hairs on their body and others have gills.
Most water species can fly.
Both adults and larvae are carnivorous and will feed on tadpoles, frogs and fish.
Water beetles can leave the water for quite long periods.
We saw a lot of water beetles at Mt Augustus in the Gascoyne region, making use of trapped water on granite rocks. The only way they got their was either to fly or white water raft down the rocks with the water when it was flowing.
Whirligig beetles mostly stay on the water surface looking for dead or easy insects to catch. They have two eyes divided into four, two eyes watch out above the surface of the water and two eyes look below the surface of the water, they don't want to become the next meal.
Go here to see a large water beetle http://www.ento.csiro.au/aicn/name_c/a_1512.html

Dried fruit beetles; These beetles have a wide variety of habitats and feeding habits but they can get into the dried nuts and ripe fruit.
Go here to learn about their wide variety of food sources. http://www.ento.csiro.au/Ecowatch/Coleoptera/nitidulidae.htm

Lycidae beetle family now includes Bostrichidae family; You don't want to eat these guys as they taste disgusting (not that I would want to eat any beetle). This is their defense so predators will not eat them.
They often have the warning colours of red or black.
They have a very long shaped body.
Adults can be found around leaves and flowers.
Go here to see the Large Auger beetle http://www.ento.csiro.au/aicn/name_c/a_1479.html

These are possibly Lycidae beetles named Metriorrhynchus sp. But there are at least five different beetles from different families that all look very similar. They were photographed at Thomson Lake Perth in October and were also seen at Forestdale Lake Perth in October.

Bostrichidae beetles. Both adults and larvae bore into dead or dying wood and are pests to furniture and timber.
Most of these beetles are small and long. If you would like to see more on this beetle family Go here
http://www.ento.csiro.au/Ecowatch/Coleoptera/lycidae.htm

Believe it or Not

This is where you decide if this is true or not. Tiger beetles are orange with black stripes.

Assignment; Meal worms are a good way to see the life cycle of a beetle. Buy the meal worms from a bird supplier or a reptile breeder. Separate the meal worms into large tins (as they like the dark), place in the tin about 1/3 full with saw dust, worms and beetles, place a piece of soft cloth on top and feed them lettuce and a handful of wheat or bird seed. Do not feed them bread as I have found it kills them. You do not need to give them any water or spray them, but you can place slices of raw carrot to add moisture. Make a chart to show how long it took for each part of the life cycle you may need to separate just a few worms and beetles into smaller containers to record this information. If you get to many worms you can place the container in the fridge to stop their development or you can give them away to a wildlife carer who will use them to feed baby birds. Please do not dump unwanted meals worms into the garden as they are a pest.

Text we used;
The above web sites already listed. As always for all web sites and books check your resources when there is conflicting information.
"Australian Beetles" By John.F.Lawerence and E.B.Britton This book is fairly technical but you may be able to use it to identify some Australian beetles. Lots of great photographs and drawings.
"A Field Guide To Insects In Australia" by Paul Zborowski and Ross Storey Colour photographs and easy to read info.
"Leaf and Branch" by Robert Powell Good information on the flowering plants of Western Australia and the creatures that visit them. Not many pictures.
"Backyard Insects" by Paul A Horne; Denis J Crawford. Colour photographs and good information on common insects.
"Living Insects" by R D Hughes. This is an older book but has a lot of good information that is easy to read.
Go here to see beetles from all over the world http://www.coleoptera.org/p169.htm
Did you want to find out what any insect words mean? Go here to this site http://www.coleoptera.org/p1154.htm
Australian aquatic beetles
http://www.lucidcentral.com/keys/lwrrdc/public/Aquatics/aqcola/html/about.htm