Information for Junior Secondary

What is a beetle?

• Beetles belong to the insect order Coleoptera.
• This name refers to their hard front wings, which enclose the body.
• These are called elytra, and give beetles their distinct appearance.
• The elytra protect beetles from predators, and when they are digging amongst leaves or wood.

NZ’s beetle

• NZ has 4,500 known beetle species.
• The longest beetle is the giraffe weevil – with its long head.
• Huhu beetles are also large, and their grubs are a tasty food.
• The feather-winged beetle is the smallest, at only half a millimetre long.

Life cycle

• Most beetles have a similar life cycle.
• The female lays eggs.
• They hatch into larvae.
• A larva’s body may be soft or hard.
• It eats until it becomes a pupa.
• During this stage, its shape changes entirely.
• The pupa emerges as an adult beetle.
• Most can fly.

Diet

• Most beetles eat plants.
• Leaves, wood, grass and bark.
• Some prey on other insects.

Where they live

• Beetles live throughout NZ.
• The greatest variety can be found in the forest.
• In trees, on the ground, under the soil or in rotting logs.
• A few can swim in hot springs.
• Some live deep in caves.

Threatened species

• Beetles, especially flightless ones, are easily killed by introduced animals such as rats and cats.
• Some beetle species have become extinct.
• A reserve has been set up in Central Otago to protect the rare Cromwell chafer beetle, which is found nowhere else.

Beetles that are pests

• Grass grubs are pests in NZ
• They eat the roots of grass and destroy farmland.