Ask Me Everything6

Bread beetles

Also known as biscuit beetles or drugstore beetles, these insect pests feed on a variety of foods. They have been known to eat bread, cookies, spices, books, leather, and even medicines and drugs. Female bread beetles may lay as many as 75 eggs at a time.

Goliath beetles

Found in many of Africa's tropical forests, Goliath beetles are 6.3 in (16 cm) long and are among the largest insects on the planet. When fully grown, their larvae i weigh as much as 3.5 oz (100 g). Goliath beetles feed on plant sap and fruit.

Christmas beetles

These scarab beetles appear in large numbers around December, when it is summer in their native Australia. Having two front legs of different lengths gives them a better grip on their preferred food_; eucalyptus leaves.

Blister beetles

Ali beetles are poisonous, but blister beetles are especially dangerous to horses and livestock. During summer, striped blister beetles swarm together to feed on alfalfa hay. A few of them gobbled down in a single clump of hay can be enough to kill a horse.

•T .	■ , 1 1, f /	f
•I?n \ ■	‘
	^ ^ł li ' *	i * M k J

Deathwatch beetles

Deep inside the timbers where they developed as larvae, adult deathwatch beetles cali to each other at mating time by tapping their heads. The eerie ticking sound gave the beetles their name.

Dung beetles

These scarab beetles roli lumps of dung along the ground to form a bali. The beetles bury the dung bali in their burrow and lay their eggs inside. Why? Because dung is their young’s favorite food!

Sexton beetles

These scavengers feed on rotting animal flesh. They have special sensors that can sniff out the body of a dead mouse from morę than 0.6 miles (1 km) away.

Bark beetles

When these pests borę into the wood of elm trees, they spread a fungus known as Dutch elm disease. The fungus has wiped out huge numbers of elms in Europę and North America.

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. Ali Rights Reserved