Why Are There So Many Kinds of Beetle?

Step 1 of 5

The front wings turned into armour.

A beetle's front pair of wings became hard cases. They shut over the back like a lid, protecting the delicate flying wings and the whole soft body underneath.

Step 2 of 5

Armour lets it go anywhere.

With a lid on, a beetle can burrow into wood, crawl through grit, swim, squeeze under bark and survive being trodden on. That opened up hiding places nothing else could use.

Step 3 of 5

The flying wings fold up small.

Underneath, the real wings are folded along creases like a paper map. They snap open to fly and fold back away in a moment — which is how something armour-plated still gets to fly.

Step 4 of 5

Every job is taken by some beetle.

There are beetles that eat wood, dung, leaves, roots, other beetles, fungus and stored flour. Each new way of making a living became a new group, and the groups kept splitting.

Step 5 of 5

They have been at it a very long time.

Beetles were already common before the dinosaurs, and they carried straight on through everything that has happened since. Long practice plus good armour adds up.

A ladybird is a beetle. So is a firefly, a weevil and a stag beetle — lift the spotty lid and the folded flying wings are underneath.