Three truths
- Timed
- Branched off about 480 million years ago · the last 11% of life's story
- Named
- ≈400,000 named living species · 23% of all named
- Weighed
- Part of Arthropods (≈1 Gt C), not measured separately.
Eukaryotes · animals · order
Beetles
Coleoptera
Living · roughly 400,000 described species
The largest order of insects, with hardened front wings that cover and protect the flying wings beneath.
About one in four known animal species is a beetle.
Key characteristics
- Hard front wings called elytra
- Chewing mouthparts
- About a quarter of all described animal species
- Branched off
- About 480 million years ago (approximate)
- Parent lineage
- Insects
Classification
Sources
- Beetle (Wikipedia) · Wikipedia
- TimeTree: the timescale of life · TimeTree
- Open Tree of Life · Open Tree of Life
- Tree of Life Web Project · Tree of Life Web Project