Darkling Beetle

Lagria hurta is a small beetle that is notably bristly.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Lagria hirta
Family: 
Darkling beetles
Family Latin name: 
TENEBRIONIDAE
Category: 
Insects other

Species description

Species description

Lagria hurta is a small beetle that is notably bristly, as can be seen in these photographs. Adults feed on nectar and pollen.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)

Details

Species family information

Although Darkling beetles tend to occupy dark spaces, many are active during the day and can be seen out in the open. There are perhaps eleven subfamilies of these beetles, all of which - coincidentally - share the characteristic of having antennae with eleven segments.

Category information

Insects evolved in the Ordovician from a crustacean ancestral lineage as terrestrial invertebrates with six legs (the Hexapoda). This was the time when terrestrial plants first appeared. In the Devonian some insects developed wings and flight, the first animals to do so. An early flying group was the Odonata from the Carboniferous, the damselflies and dragonflies, which have densely-veined wings and long, ten-segmented bodies. They are day-flying carnivores, with an aquatic larval stage, so are commonly seen flying near water. The carnivorous larvae are called nymphs. Odonata species are short-lived, damselflies surviving for 2-4 weeks, dragonflies for up to 2 months.

Some insect groups in the Cretaceous co-evolved with the flowering plants, and they have had a close association ever since. These groups are the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), the Diptera (flies), and the Coleoptera (beetles). The diversity of beetles is astonishing. Of all the known animal species on the planet, one in five is a beetle!