Beetles

Beetles belong to the Order Coleoptera (sheath-winged, a reference to their hardened forewings), range in size from 0.25 mm to over 17 cm, and occur practically everywhere.

Beetles are the largest group of insects, with approximately 400,000 species described across the world. This number means that 1 in 4 of all known animal species is a beetle. Hence the quote, ascribed to the British geneticist J. B. S. Haldane, that the Creator has, or had, an inordinate fondness for beetles.  There are about 4,000 species from the British Isles. Of these, about two thirds, or between 2,500 and 3,000, occur in Scotland. However, most of Scotland remains poorly surveyed and our knowledge of the beetle fauna as a whole is patchy and incomplete.

Many beetles are important pollinators, while dung beetles (especially (scarabs) remove vast quantities of dung from the environment. Carabid beetles help reduce the number of plant-eating caterpillars and slugs. The simplification of our arable ecosystems has reduced the number of such predators in our fields and strips of grass may be deliberately left in fields as beetle banks. Other beetles, such as the heather beetle and the harlequin ladybird, can be harmful under certain circumstances.

In Scotland, some species are of special conservation concern, such as the ten-spotted pot beetle  , the six-spotted pot beetle  , the water beetle Hydroporus rufifrons   and the reed beetle Donacia aquatica  .