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News tagged with beetles

Beetle-infested pine trees contribute more to air pollution and haze in forests

The hordes of bark beetles that have bored their way through more than 6 billion trees in the western U.S. and British Columbia since the 1990s do more than damage and kill stately pine, spruce and other trees. ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created May 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Forensics ferret out fire beetle secret

Black fire beetles of the genus Melanophila possess unusual infrared sensors. Researchers from the University of Bonn and from the Forschungszentrum Julich have concluded that the beetles' sensors might even ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 23, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Southern pine beetle impacts on forest ecosystems

Research by USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) scientists shows that the impacts of recent outbreaks of southern pine beetle further degraded shortleaf pine-hardwood forest ecosystems in the southern Appalachian ...

Biology / Ecology

created May 17, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Protection sought for rare woodpecker

(AP) -- Smokey Bear has done such a good job stomping out forest fires the past half-century that a woodpecker that's survived for millions of years by eating beetle larvae in burned trees is in danger of ...

Biology / Ecology

created May 02, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Dry heat increases bark beetle bite

Climate change appears to be good news for destructive bark beetles, according to a new study by Lorenzo Marini from the University of Padova in Italy, and his team. Their work, published online in Springer's Climatic Ch ...

Biology / Ecology

created May 02, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

In search of the 'lost ladybug'

Leah Tyrrell wants to make something clear: She does not wear ladybug sweatshirts. She does not carry her belongings in ladybug bags, shelter from the rain beneath a ladybug-shaped umbrella, or take notes with pens decorated ...

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 30, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Beetles chomping their way through salt cedar at Lake Meredith

Dr. Jerry Michels, a Texas AgriLife Research entomologist in Amarillo, is hopeful this will be the year major defoliation occurs on salt cedar that lines the banks of the waterways leading into Lake Meredith.

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

First-ever release of endangered burying beetles in Missouri

Beetle last seen in state in 1970s; Zoo has monitored for beetle since 2002. The Saint Louis Zoo's Center for American Burying Beetle Conservation; the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; the Missouri Department of Conservation; ...

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 24, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Bark beetle management and ecology in southern pine forests

Periodic outbreaks of bark beetles can cause annual losses of millions of dollars and pose serious challenges for forest managers, and the suppression of outbreaks is particularly difficult and expensive.

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Exotic manure is sure to lure the dung connoisseur

Although the preference of dung beetles for specific types and conditions of dung has been given substantial attention, little has been done to investigate their preference for dung from exotic mammals found on game farms ...

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Warm winters mean more pine beetles, tree damage

(PhysOrg.com) -- Some populations of mountain pine beetles now produce two generations of tree-killing offspring annually, dramatically increasing the potential for bugs to kill lodgepole and ponderosa pine ...

Biology / Ecology

created Mar 28, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Discovery of pine beetles breeding twice in a year helps explain increasing damage, researchers say

(PhysOrg.com) -- Long thought to produce only one generation of tree-killing offspring annually, some populations of mountain pine beetles now produce two generations per year, dramatically increasing the ...

Biology / Ecology

created Mar 15, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

An integrated pest management program for coffee berry borer in Colombia

The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari), is considered one of the most serious pests in coffee plantations worldwide. Infestations of this small beetle are difficult to combat; most of the in ...

Biology / Ecology

created Mar 14, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Dung beetle diversity affects Florida livestock producers

Dung beetles are important to healthy cattle pasture ecosystems as they provide for nutrient recycling, removal of waste products from the soil surface and assist in the reduction of pestiferous flies.

Biology / Ecology

created Mar 06, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

In Swiss city, 'augmented reality' is out of this world

A pair of Swiss policemen cast a suspicious eye as a creature in a space helmet with a camera mounted on top and carrying an astronaut's backpack wanders around Basel's St. Johann Park.

Technology / Hi Tech & Innovation

created Mar 05, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 2

Beetle

Adephaga Archostemata Myxophaga Polyphaga See subgroups of the order Coleoptera

Beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are classified in the order Coleoptera (pronounced /ˌkoʊliˈɒptərə/; from Greek κολεός, koleos, "sheath"; and πτερόν, pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing"), which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal kingdom, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms. 40% of all described insect species are beetles (about 350,000 species), and new species are frequently discovered. Estimates put the total number of species, described and undescribed, at between 5 and 8 million. The largest family also belongs to this order—the weevils, or snout beetles, Curculionidae.

Beetles can be found in almost all habitats, but are not known to occur in the sea or in the polar regions. They interact with their ecosystems in several ways. They often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are prey of various animals including birds and mammals. Certain species are agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata, the boll weevil Anthonomus grandis, the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, and the mungbean or cowpea beetle Callosobruchus maculatus, while other species of beetles are important controls of agricultural pests. For example, beetles in the family Coccinellidae ("ladybirds" or "ladybugs") consume aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops.

For more information about Beetle, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: species , insects