Beetle
| Beetle Temporal range: 318–0 Ma Pennsylvanian – Recent |
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| Collage of species of Coleoptera circumposed on a white background. From top left to bottom right: female Golden stag beetle (Lamprima aurata), Rhinoceros beetle (Xylotrupes gideon), a species of Amblytelus, Cowboy beetle (Chondropyga dorsalis), and a Long nose weevil (Rhinotia hemistictus). | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Subclass: | Pterygota |
| Infraclass: | Neoptera |
| Superorder: | Endopterygota |
| Order: | Coleoptera Linnaeus, 1758 |
Beetles belong to the order of Coleoptera and have the largest number of species in that group. It also contains more than 25% of the described knows species in the animal kingdom. It is estimated that the number of species of beetles lies between 5 and 8 million and are found in every habitat known to man except in the sea or the more arctic regions of Earth.