Some basic Questions About Beetles

[PIPI]

Hello all

I just wanna ask something about beetles, as you see, I don't really know much about these creatures.

I want to ask, whether do beetles bite humans by the fingers or hands and, do beetles seldom fly and only fly when they really have to?

 

[Peter Clausen]

Hi PIPI,

Some beetles are capable of biting humans, however very very few ever do. I've never heard of a serious injury, accidental or otherwise.

Some beetles fly a lot during the day and others fly only when they need to at night. They do it only for very short periods of time.

Some beetles don't have wings (like tenebrionid darklings), but most beetles do have wings and do fly occasionally.

The cetoniid fig beetles of the USA are commonly observed flying during the day. Ladybugs too!

 

[PIPI]

There's this beetle called the rain beetle, I heard that it can't eat due to the absence of a digestive tract and developed mouthpiece. Is this true?

 

[Peter Clausen]

I'm not personally sure without searching around the web a bit, but it wouldn't surprise me. I hear that some rain beetles live very deep under ground for decades and then emerge for hours or a couple days at most to mate.

 

[Kaidin]

I've watched some documentary about mayflies where it was said the same thing about them - no mouth, not digestive system - only reproductive.

 

[ando]

Lymexylonidae imagos don't also eat but just mate. It's making them hard do catch because of the short lifespan.