Insect Order : coleoptera

ORDER:
COLEOPTERA
Preapred by
Dr. S. Sumaiya

COLEOPTERA
 Synonym : Elytroptera
 Etymology : Coleo - Sheath ; ptera-wing
 Common names : Beetles, Weevils

Coleoptera
 Characters
 They are minute to large sized insects.
 Antenna is usually 11 segmented.
 Mouthparts are chewing type.
 Mandibles are short with blunt teeth at the
mesal face in phytophagous group.
 In predators the mandibles are long, sharply
pointed with blade like inner ridge.
 In pollen feeders teeth are absent and the
mandibles are covered with stiff hairs.
 Prothorax is large, distinct and mobile.

Characters
 Mesothorax and metathorax are fused with the
first abdominal segment.
 Forewings are heavily sclerotised, veinless and
hardened.
 They are called elytra.
 Forewings do not overlap and meet mid-
dorsally to form a mid-dorsal line.
 It is not used for flight.
 They serve as a pair of convex shields to cover
the hindwings and delicate tergites of
abdomen.
 Hindwings are membranous with few veins and
are useful in flight.
 At rest they are folded transversely and kept
beneath the elytra.
Coleoptera

 In some weevils and ground beetles the
forewings are fused and hindwings are atrophied.
 A small part of the mesothorax known as
scutellum remains exposed as a little triangle
between the bases of elytra.
 Cerci and a distinct ovipositor are absent.
 Metamorphosis is complete.
 Larva are often called grubs.
 Pupae are usually exarate and rarely found in
cocoons.
Characters Coleoptera

Classification
 It is the largest order. It includes predators, scavengers and many
crop pests.
 They also damage stored products.
 This order is divided into two suborders, viz.,
 Adephaga (devourers) and Polyphaga (eaters of many things).
 Adephaga includes Cicindelidae, Carabidae and Dytiscidae.
 Other families listed out below come under Polyphaga.

FAMILIES OF PREDATORS
1. CICINDELIDAE (Tiger beetles)
 Head is usually wider than prothorax.
 Eyes are fairly larger and they have very
keen vision.
 Mandibles are sharply pointed, sickle
shaped and acutely toothed for capturing
the prey.
 Legs are long and tarsi slender which enable
to run fast.
 Elytra have spots and stripes.
 Larva excavates vertical pits for prey
capture.
 Both grubs and adults are active predators.

2. CARABIDAE (Ground beetles)
 Adults are often black in colour and some brightly
spotted.
 Some cannot fly because they have fused elytra
and atrophied hindwings.
 Legs are suited for running.
 Larvae have caliper like mandibles, well developed
legs and terminal cerci like structures called
urogomphi.
 They are nocturnal. Ground beetles are voracious
predators both as adults and larvae.
 They feed on soft bodied caterpillars and other
insects.
 Six spotted carabid : Anthia sexguttata

3. DYTISCIDAE:
(True water beetles, Predaceous diving beetles)
 Body is long, oval, smooth and shiny.
 Head, thorax and abdomen are compactly joined.
 Antenna is filiform.
 In some male beetles the fore tarsi are provided
with cup like suckers which are useful in clasping
the mate.
 Hindlegs are flattened, fringed with hairs and
suited for swimming.
 Air is stored beneath the elytra.
 Adults and larvae are aquatic predators

4. GYRINIDAE (Whirlinig beetles)
 They swim in erratic paths on water
surface and exhibit gyrating motion.
 Compound eyes are completely divided
by the front margin of the head into an
upper and lower half so that the beetle
appear to have two pairs of compound
eyes.
 The dorsal pair is suited for aerial vision
and the ventral pair is for aquatic vision.
 Forelegs are prehensile and long.
 Middle legs and hindlegs are natatorial.
 They are predators.

5. COCCINELLIDAE
(Lady bird beetles)
 They are hemispherical.
 The body is convex above and flat below.
 Their body appearance resembles a split pea.
 Head is small, turned downward and received into a
prominent notch of prothorax.
 Elytra is strongly convex, brightly coloured and
variously spotted.
 Grubs are compodeiform and spiny.
 The last larval skin either cover the pupa or gets
attached to the anal end of the pupa.
 Except the genus Epilachna, others are predators on
aphids, scales, mites and whiteflies.

6. LAMPYRIDAE
(Fireflies, Glow worms)
 They show sexual dimorphism.
 Male : head is concealed by the semicircular
pronotum.
 Eyes are well developed and contiguous.
 Forewings are soft and flexible.
 They do not fully cover the abdomen.
 Photogenic organ is found in sixth and
seventh abdominal segments.
 Female : Head is hidden by pronotum.
 Eyes are very much reduced.
 Wings are absent and is larviform.
 Photogenic organ is present in seventh
abdominal segment.

 Larvae are with sickle like mandibles.
 They are carnivorous and feed on snails.
 Extra intestinal digestion is common in
larvae.
 All life stages are luminous to varying
degree.
 The luminescence is produced by the
oxidation of a substance luciferin in the
presence of an enzyme luciferase.
 The function of luminescence is to bring
the sexes together.
6. LAMPYRIDAE
(Fireflies, Glow worms)

FAMILIES OF SCAVENGERS
1. SCARABAEIDAE (Scarabs, Dung beetles)
 Head is broad and flat. Mandibles are membranous
and incapable of chewing.
 Many have spines and horns on head and
prothorax.
 Forelegs are fossorial.
 Middle legs are widely separated
 Adults and larvae are scavengers.
 They feed upon the droppings of animals and
human excreta.
 They role on the dung into balls and bury them in
underground chambers.
 They use their head and forelegs for handling dung
and digging pits in the soil.
 Head is used as an excavator and fore-tibia as
shovel.
 They show remarkable parental care.
 Common Indian dung beetle : Heliocopris
bucephalus

2. HYDROPHILIDAE
(Water scavenger beetles)
 They are black or dull coloured.
 Body is convex above and flattened below.
 Antenna is clubbed and kept beneath the
prothorax.
 Maxillary palps are long and look like antennae.
 Legs are evenly placed in the anterior part of the
body.
 Middle legs are flattened and suited for
swimming.
 Metasternum is produced into a spine
posteriorly.
 Air is stored beneath the elytra and over the
undersurface of the body.
 Adults and larvae feed on decomposing
vegetable matter.

FAMILIES OF STORED PRODUCT PESTS
1. ANOBIIDAE (Wood worms, Wood borers)
 Body is oval shaped or cylindrical.
 Head is concealed by pronotum which is helmet
like.
 Grub is fleshy with larger abdominal segments.
 Cigarette beetle : Lasioderma serricorne is the
most serious pest of tobacco in factories and cigar
stores.

2.BOSTRYCHIDAE
 They are small, elongate and cylindrical
beetles.
 Head is concealed by the pronotum which is
hood like.
 Antenna is either smooth or sculptured.
 Lesser grain borer : Rhizopertha dominica
larvae bore in to the stored grains and eat
the inner contents completely.

3. BRUCHIDAE
(Pulse beetles, Seed beetles)
 They are small, short beetles.
 Head is small and the snout is blunt.
 Antenna is serrate.
 Hind femur is thick.
 Elytra are short and do not cover the abdomen fully.
 Eggs are whitish, scale like and glued to the pods or seeds by a
glutinous secretion.
 Grubs feed exclusively on seed legumes.
 Pupation occurs within the seed.
 Adult emerges by cutting a circular exit hole.
 Development is similar to hypermetamorphosis.
 Pulse beetle : Callosobruchus chinensis.
 It is a serious pest on stored pulses.

4. TENEBRIONIDAE
(Meal worms)
 Body is flat and elongate.
 Elytra is often sculptured.
 Legs are heteromerous with a tarsal formula of
5-5-4.
 Larvae are called meal worms.
 Red flour beetle : Tribolium castaneum.
 It is an important pest of milled products.

FAMILIES OF CROP PESTS
1. APIONIDAE:
 Head is produced into a snout
 Antenna is not elbowed.
 Grubs are apodous.
 Sweet potato weevil : Cylas formicarius.
 It attacks sweet potato both in fields and in
storage.

2. BUPRESTIDAE
(Jewel beetles, Metallic wood borers)
 They are often elongate hard bodied insects.
 Body regions have a metaliic lusture
 Antenna is serrate.
 Larvae are called flat headed borers.
 Larval head is small and is entirely withdrawn
into thorax.
 Prothorax is greatly expanded.
 Legs are absent.
 They tunnel beneath the bark or bore into
stems or roots.
 Groundnut stem borer : Sphenoptera perotetti.
 The larva tunnels into the main root and kills
the plants.

4. CASSIDIDAE
(Tortoise beetles)
 Adults look like a small tortoise
 Head is concealed under the prothorax.
 Head is inferior in position.
 Prothorax and elytra are convex, wider and form
a shell.
 Leg tips alone are exposed outside the shell.
 Larva is dorsally spiny to which excreta and
exuviae are attached forming a faecal shield.
 Sweet potato beetle : Aspidiomorpha miliaris.
 They primarily feed on sweet potato.

5. CERAMBYCIDAE
(Longicorn beetles)
 Body is cylindrical.
 Compound eyes are notched.
 Antenna is as long or longer than the beetle itself. Antenna
can be flexed backwards.
 It is surrounded at the base by compound eye.
 Pronotum is with one to three laterally located spines.
 Grubs are called round headed borers.
 They are apodous but have psuedopods both on dorsal and
ventral side.
 They are wood borers.
 They develop beneath the bark and
 tunnel into the branches or main stem.
 Mango stem borer : Batocera rufomaculata

6. CURCULIONIDAE
(Weevils, snout beetles)
 Minute to large sized insects.
 Frons and vertex of the head are produced into
snout.
 It is cylindrical and in some species larger than the
beetle itself.
 Mouthparts (Mandibles and maxillae) are present at
the tip of the snout.
 It is useful to feed on internal tissues of the plant
and provide a place for egg laying.
 Antenna is geniculate and found usually in the
middle of the snout.
 Grubs are apodous and eucephalous.
 Weevils are important crop pests occuring both in
field and storage.
 Coconut red palm weevil: Rhynchophorus
ferrugineus.

7. DYNASTIDAE
(Unicorn beetles, Rhinoceros beetles)
 Mandibles are bent, expanded, leaf like and visible from above.
 Horns are usually present in male in the head and thorax.
 Coconut rhinoceros beetle: Oryctes rhinoceros.
 Cephalic horns are found in both the sexes.
 In male the horn is longer and recurved.
 In female it is shorter and straight.
 Adults are injurious to coconut and grubs are found in dying
palms and manure pits.

8. ELATERIDAE
(Click beetles, Wire worms)
 Body is elongate and cylindrical.
 Pronotum is rounded anteriorly and its posterior
corners are sharply pointed.
 Adult is able to jump and land upon its feet while
lying on its back.
 Each jump is accompanied by an audible clicking
sound.
 Movement of prothorax makes the prosternal spine
to slip into the mesosternal cavity.
 This causes the elytra to press against the surface
and propel the beetle into air.
 Eggs are laid in soil.
 Grubs are long, cylindrical and tough skinned and
called wireworms.
 They feed on roots.

9. GALERUCIDAE
(Pumpkin beetles)
 Antennae are closely approximated.
 Third tarsomere is deeply bilobed.
 Larvae are root feeders.
 Adults bite holes on leaves.
 Red pumpkin beetles : Raphidopalpa foveicollis.

10. MELOIDAE
(Blister beetles, Oil beetles)
 They are cylindrical, soft bodied beetles.
 Head is connected to thorax by a distinct neck.
 Legs are heteromerous with a tarsal formula of 5-
5-4.
 Claws show longitudinal splitting.
 Forewings are soft and leathery.
 They give off a fluid containing the oily principle
catharidin, when disturbed which causes blisters.
 Development involves hypermetamorphosis.
 Eggs hatch into active triungulin larvae which may
feed on eggs of grasshoppers.
 Adults feed on foliage and flowers.
 Banded blister beetle : Mylabris pustulata

11. MELOLONTHIDAE
(Chafer beetles, June beetles, White grubs)
 They are stout beetles with glossy surface.
 Head is small.
 Labrum is well sclerotised.
 Adults are attracted to light.
 They feed on tree foliage during night and hide
in soil during day time.
 Larvae are scarabaeiform and root feeders.
 Groundnut white grub: Holotrichia
consanguinea.
 It is a serious pest on groundnut under
 rainfed condition.

References
 Insecta an Introduction. Ragumoorthi, K. N., V. Balasubramani, M. R.
Srinivasan and N. Natarajan, 2003. A. E. Publications, Coimbatore
 Images were taken from the Internet

Insect Order : coleoptera

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