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Giraffe weevil
The male giraffe weevil’s neck is long enough to look out of proportion to the rest of the beetle. The female’s shorter neck comes in handy for a different job. After laying an egg on a leaf, she rolls the leaf around it to make a case.
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Goliathus goliatus
Look at the black stripes on the pale shield behind the head of this African Goliath beetle. The color of the wing covers can vary, and the male has a forked horn at the front of the head. At a glance it’s the heavy build that gives the beetle its bulk.
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Hercules beetle
A male Hercules beetle’s long upper horn works against a horn projecting from the head. During a contest, the two can form a clamp around another male. The horns give the beetle much of its apparent length.
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Lucanus cervus
The antlers on a male stag beetle are its enlarged jaws. Males grapple with them, while the larvae grow inside decaying wood. There’s a lot going on in an old stump before you ever see an adult beetle.
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Japanese rhinoceros beetle
Males compete for feeding sites where tree sap flows. A male can slip the long, fork-tipped horn on its head under a rival and lift. The size of the horn and its role in contests vary across populations.
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Chrysolina cerealis
The rainbow leaf beetle has lengthwise bands of metallic color, so even a beetle small enough to sit on a thyme sprig can be hard to miss. Wild thyme is one of the plants associated with this beetle in its British range.
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Charidotella sexpunctata
A golden tortoise beetle can be bright gold and then take on a duller reddish color when disturbed. The flattened rim of its wing covers also makes the little insect look as though it’s tucked under a shell.
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Alaus oculatus
The black ovals on the back of this eyed click beetle look like eyes, but its real eyes sit on the head. A latch in its body snaps open to produce the click, helping a beetle stranded on its back launch into the air and turn over.
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Cicindela sexguttata
A six-spotted tiger beetle can flash metallic green as it darts along a sunny path. The pale spots on the wing covers can vary in number. Its long legs and large jaws are clues to the quick little predator underneath the shine.
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Great diving beetle
In a pond, the fringed hind legs sweep like oars. Before a dive, an adult can come up tail-first and replenish the air it carries beneath the wing covers. That supply lets it stay underwater while hunting.
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Devil's coach horse beetle
An alarmed devil’s coach horse curls its abdomen upward, which can make it look like a little scorpion. The short wing covers leave most of the abdomen free. It hunts other small invertebrates on the ground.
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Scarabaeus satyrus
A dung beetle with a fresh ball needs a straight route away from competitors. In a planetarium, this nocturnal species could keep its bearings when the only light overhead was a broad, hazy band representing the Milky Way.
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Onymacris unguicularis
When fog rolls across the Namib, this darkling beetle can stand with its head low and the rear of its body raised. Water collects on its back and can trickle down toward the mouth. The posture turns passing fog into drinking water.
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Phloeodes diabolicus
The diabolical ironclad beetle has wing covers that meet in a seam with interlocking pieces. Under pressure those pieces help spread the load and can partly separate in layers before the seam fails. That helps explain why its shell is so hard to crush.
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Chrysina gloriosa
This jewel scarab wears lengthwise metallic stripes on a green back. Tiny structures in the green areas reflect light with a particular polarization. The shine comes from the structure of the surface as well as its color.
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Odontotaenius disjunctus
A shiny black bess beetle can spend much of its life with its family inside a rotting log. Adults make squeaks by rubbing body parts together, and larvae can make sounds too. A log that seems quiet from outside can contain a noisy little household.
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