Beetles

No insect group has more species than beetles do. Beetles do have two pairs of wings, even though some species make the im...

No insect group has more species than beetles do. Beetles do have two pairs of wings, even though some species make the impression of being wingless. The front pair however is fully made of chitine, extremely tough and cannot be used for flying. We call them shields and one of their tasks is to protect the real wings, the ones used for flying, located beneath. Just catch a lady bug, put it on your hand pointing upwards. The lady bug will try to find the highest point and once there will slide away its shields, revealing the real wings. Immediately afterwards it will more or less elegantly fly away. Not all beetles have shields covering their entire body. In Western Europe lots of beetles are so-called Rove Beetles. They all have very short wing cases, leaving the greater part of the body naked. The real wings are folded under the remains of the shields, the same way earwigs do. Oil Beetles as well as a few Longhorn Beetles also have extremely small shields.