What Do Beetles Eat? Feeding Tips, Suggestions And Fun Facts

Beetles are organisms or small insects of the insect class order of Coleoptera, which is part of the superorder Endopterygota.

The front couple of wings are compressed into wing-cases, known as elytra, which distinguishes them from most other invertebrates. The Coleoptera family, with approximately 400,000 organisms, is the biggest of any and all orders, accounting for nearly 40% of all characterized invertebrates and 25% of all recognized living organisms.

New species are encountered on a regular basis which keeps growing the Coleoptera order. This order contains the largest family of all, the Curculionidae (primitive weevils), which has approximately 83,000 constituent organisms. They communicate with their own ecological systems in a variety of ways and can be observed in almost all kinds of habitats except for the ocean and the Arctic Circle.

A lot of people mistake bed bugs as beetles because of their familiar shape, but they are not beetles and belong to a completely different family. Each species of beetles have different eating habits, so it is important to keep that in mind when you are feeding beetles. Beetles eat with the help of their mandibles, which are like human teeth. They bite solid food and grind it with help of their mandibles. When it comes to the lifespan of beetles, it depends on their habitat. In the wild, the lifespan is usually 10 days to 60 days. In captivity, they may live for up to 180 days or 6 months.

After reading about what do these insects eat, also check out where do carpet beetles come from, and do beetles bite?

What do Christmas beetles eat?

There are many beetle species on this planet. The Christmas beetle is one such species of beetle.

The typical Christmas beetle diet should contain mostly leaves from eucalyptus trees, garden plants, or dead plants.

Beetle larvae also feed on these leaves. Many beetle species like the Hercules beetle, cottonwood leaf beetle, elm leaf beetle, bark beetle (which are beetles that live in tree trunks), or wood-boring beetles are herbivorous and only eat plants and other plant parts.

What do wasp beetles eat?

Most species of wasp beetles feed mostly on pollen.

Adult beetles and females sometimes turn into carnivorous beetles and eat smaller insects to gain energy to lay eggs and continue their life cycle.

A Mildew beetle will mostly feed on dead and decaying plants or other matter. They get their nutrients from animal dung and other rotting material. So many species like dung beetles also feed on dead and decaying matter.

What do violet ground beetles eat?

A violet ground beetle is a beetle species that feeds on snails, slugs, or even worms. They are not flying insects like many beetles but can move on the ground very quickly.

The longhorn beetle gets its name because of the big horn-like antennae on its head. They are very long and are yellow and black in color. The larvae of all recognized longhorn beetles feed on plant tissue such as stems, stalks, or root systems of both perennial herb and cedar crops, almost always in injury-prone or vulnerable trees.

A few organisms are significant nuisances. Aside from the antennae size, the most consistent feature of the group is that the antennal connectors are positioned on minimal tubercles on the head. Other beetles with lengthy antennae have a complete absence of the above tubercles, while Cerambycidae with relatively smaller antennae retain them. They differ greatly in terms of size, structure, sculpture, color and texture.

What do viburnum leaf beetles eat?

Unlike other species, viburnum leaf beetles are picky eaters.

They feed on the leaves of only those plants which come under the genus Viburnum, which gives these beetles their name.

What vegetables do Japanese beetles eat?

Japanese beetles feed on a variety of vegetables as part of their diet.

Japanese beetles, like most beetles, enter your garden and eat almost every type of fruit and vegetable. They eat asparagus, rhubarb, corn, and beans.

What vegetables do flea beetles eat?

Flea beetles are scale insects, and pests, unlike most beetles, don't help the farmers at all. This one species of beetle eats broccoli, turnips, spinach, eggplants, tomatoes, and peppers.

Rove beetles eat both plants as well as other smaller insects. They normally eat vegetables that are left around or may also eat dead insects to gain nutrition. They also eat plant litter like fallen leaves, fallen fruits, and vegetables, or any arthropod that they can overpower and capture.

Rove beetles are a type of beetle that is differentiated by their short elytra, which exposes more than 50% of their abdominal segments. They continue living in the fallen leaves of forests, woods, and pasture floors. They congregate in decaying fruits and the space beneath the loose bark of fallen trees or twigs.

Do beetles eat yucca?

Yucca weevil larvae are white pests that eat the yucca plant from within. They burrow inside the plant and leave it open to many diseases, and the plant eventually dies.

The water beetle group includes any type of aquatic beetle. Water beetles are aquatic insects that can live in freshwater. Whirligig beetles and Predaceous diving beetles are examples of water beetles that eat aquatic plants, small fishes, or tiny tadpoles floating in the water. Carrion beetles feed on decaying carcasses of dead animals. They also burrow and make their homes in the soil next to carrion. Other beetles that feed on carrion and decaying matter include clown beetles and scarab beetles. 

Lady beetles, also known as ladybugs, are the most widely known species in the beetle family. Ladybugs usually eat pests such as aphids which destroy crops. Soldier beetles are carnivorous and are a huge help to gardeners and farmers. Soldier beetles feed on caterpillars, the eggs of leaf-eating larvae, aphids, and other creatures and pests which normally destroy crops.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for what do beetles eat, then why not take a look at do Japanese beetles bite or do insects have hearts?