Beetle
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 described species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal species; new species are discovered frequently, with estimates suggesting that there are between 0.9 and 2.1 million total species. Found in almost every habitat except the sea and the polar regions, they interact with their ecosystems in several ways: beetles often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are serious agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle, while others such as Coccinellidae (ladybirds or ladybugs) eat aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops. Some others also have unusual characteristics ...
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Colorado Potato Beetle
The Colorado potato beetle (''Leptinotarsa decemlineata''), also known as the Colorado beetle, the ten-striped spearman, the ten-lined potato beetle, or the potato bug, is a major pest of potato crops. It is about long, with a bright yellow/orange body and five bold brown stripes along the length of each of its elytra. Native to the Rocky Mountains, it spread rapidly in potato crops across America and then Europe from 1859 onwards. Taxonomy The Colorado potato beetle was first observed in 1811 by Thomas Nuttall and was formally described in 1824 by American entomologist Thomas Say.see pp. 453–454: "Doryphora, Illig.: D. 10-lineata"./ref> The beetles were collected in the Rocky Mountains, where they were feeding on the buffalo bur, '' Solanum rostratum''. The genus ''Leptinotarsa'' is assigned to the chrysolmelid beetle tribe Chrysomelini (in subfamily Chrysomelinae). Description Adult beetles typically are in length and in width. They weigh 50-170 mg. The beetles ar ...
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