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Coleopteran
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. 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 life-forms; 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. Beetles typically have a particularly hard exosk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protocoleoptera
The Protocoleoptera are a paraphyletic group of extinct beetles, containing the earliest and most primitive lineages of beetles. They represented the dominant group of beetles during the Permian, but were largely replaced by modern beetle groups during the following Triassic. Protocoleopterans typically possess prognathous (horizontal) heads, distinctive elytra with regular window punctures, culticles with tubercles or scales, as well as a primitive pattern of ventral sclerites, similar to the modern archostematan families Ommatidae and Cupedidae. They are thought to have been xylophagous and wood boring. Kirejtshuk ''et al.'' (2014) argue that the name "Protocoleoptera" should not be used for the group, as Protocoleoptera was originally proposed for the family Protocoleidae , now considered a member of the extinct order Protelytroptera (a stem-group of the modern Dermaptera Earwigs make up the insect order Dermaptera. With about 2,000 species in 12 families, they are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
