What did the beetles eat?
Most beetles eat plant parts, either leaves or seeds or fruit or wood. Many are predators on other small animals. Some eat fungus, and there are a bunch of species that eat dung. Sometimes the larvae eat different foods than the adults do.
What is beetle favorite food?
Most beetles are herbivores, eating only plants. This includes roots, stems, leaves, seeds, nectar, fruits or even the wood of the plant itself. This subcategory includes weevils, leaf beetles and some species of Longhorned beetles.
On Earth, the food resources available to beetles are very extensive, almost all biomass material, there are beetles can feed and utilize. However, different species or classes of beetles, in different habitats, feeding on different foods. Some beetles are omnivorous, feeding on plants and animals. Other beetles either feed only on plants, i.e., phytophagous; or only prey on animals, i.e., carnivorous; or feed on decaying material, i.e., carrion, or on animal feces, i.e., fecal. Some beetles are monophagous, specializing in feeding on only one food item; or oligophagous, feeding on only a few food items; or polyphagous, which can feed on a variety of food items.
Many kinds of leaf beetles, asphodel and weevil beetles and other beetles, it food they are host-specific, only feeding on a plant, or even only feeding on a part or part of the plant, such as only feeding on plant roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, phloem or xylem and so on. Step beetles, cryptic beetles, and some other beetles in some groups are carnivorous or predatory, specializing in small prey such as earthworms, snails, or some other arthropods. However, most predatory beetles have a wide range of diets, and only a few are relatively specialized, with certain preferences and selectivity.
Many beetle species feed on decaying organic matter, and some of these species specialize in feeding on the dung of different animals (e.g., dung beetles, etc.), or on animal carcasses, i.e., necrophagous (e.g., Funeral Beetles, Yama Beetles), or exclusively on plant residues. Some beetles, although living in animal dung, are not dung-feeding, but carnivorous, specializing in those dung-feeding insects in the dung. Some beetles live under the bark of trees (bark beetles, etc.), while others burrow into the xylem or wood and are wood-eating beetles. Fungi-feeding beetles feed on or live in symbiosis with fungi, and often have fungus-carrying structures that carry fungal spores.
What do beetles eat?
Beetles have chewing mouthparts, and so do their larvae. These are two tough, approximately triangular jaws, which are able to exert powerful biting or grinding pressure. There is virtually nothing that beetles do not feed on.
What do beetles eat?
As well as scavenging in leaf litter, beetles eat plants from the roots to the shoots. They also tackle mammal dung, carrion, other insects and even each other.
Beetles graze mould in compost bins and are among the most important composting recyclers when it comes to dead wood and fungal decay. Some steal food from spiders’ webs. A few species invade our homes to infest our stored food and eat our carpets.
Beetles took advantage of the explosion in plant diversity with the evolution of flowering plants 120–100 million years ago, and now are the second most speciose plant-feeding insects after moth caterpillars.
Many of the over 135,000 specialist plant-feeders in the important beetle lineage Phytophaga are extremely host-specific. They will feed only on a single plant species – and often on just one part of that plant. In this way they have carved out tiny specialist niches, allowing diversification rather than competition with each other.
Beetles are made up of thousands of species that have just as diverse dietary habits. While many beetle species feed on plant materials such as leaves, seeds, and nectar others are drawn to animal proteins, fungi, and even feces. Species like the Wood Boring, Long Horned, Powderpost, and Carpet beetles can be damaging to households because they consume materials like carpets, wood, and fabrics. Pantry pests like the Flour and Merchant Grain Beetles are notorious for infesting and feeding on stored food items like dried fruits, grains, and baked goods. No matter what their diet consists of beetles sophisticated olfactory senses help in locating food. Their mandibles vary across species and are specialized for their dietary needs. From extended mandibles in predatory beetles to straw-like structures in nectar feeders.
Because there are so many species of beetles, the beetle diet can vary greatly. Learn more about what beetles eat.
What the beetle diet tells us
Recent theories proposed by the University of Berkeley claim that there might be so many different species of beetles because of what they choose to eat. For example, if one species of beetle is eating a particular flower, it might become scarce as the population grows. Half of that species might start to eat another flower. The group that switches might evolve to become another species.
Beetles are quintessential insects—they have a head, abdomen, thorax and multiple legs. Their outer bodies are tough and solid. Their jaws are strong and solid, with chewing mouthparts that are well adapted to eat a wide variety of food. Interestingly, many beetles have wings, or more specifically, modified wings. The first pair of wings serves primarily a protective purpose, as they are small, but quite hard. The second pair of wings allows some breed of beetle to fly. Many beetles catch our attraction with their brightly colored outer shells.
What Do Beetles Eat? Beetles are a group of insects which are under the Order Coleoptera. Coming from the Greek words “koleos” meaning “sheath” and “pteron” meaning “wing“, the order is characterized by members having “sheath wings” that appear as hard protective shell that cover the inner membranous wings.
Regarding their diet, beetles eat a wide variety of things found in nature. They feed on things like decaying matter, plants, other insects, and even animals. Of course, such is dependent on the species of the beetle itself and the type of environment it lives in.
Beetle species are categorized into several groups, including phytophagous and carnivorous, depending on their feeding habits. The phytophagous species feed on plants, mainly legumes, grains, flour, leaves, stems, branches, roots, decaying trees and fruits. Carnivorous species eat mainly bacon, carcasses, cheese, leather, etc. The omnivorous species feed on relatively complex objects, regardless of their nature.
