this beetle is about the size of a 50 cent piece, khaki drab with black spots. my son (11) wants to identify it because he wants to know what to feed it.
2006-07-13 15:11:47 · 5 answers · asked by curiouser 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Trivia
Take the kid to the library and ask the reference librarian for help. Tell the reference librarian that you hope s/he can help because your son wants to identify some local beetles. Then let your son take the lead. Whether or not you actually ID your beetle, it will be a learning adventure for your son...
2006-07-13 15:45:05 · answer #1 · answered by norcalirish 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is difficult because there are so many beetle species out there (so far on the order of 350,000 named species). In order to get it identified you will probably have to take it to someone who specializes in that particular family of beetle. I spent one year of my life trying to learn how to identify the members of one family of beetles that live in CT and it was very difficult. There are many species that look identical to the untrained eye, and even experts have difficulty differentiating some species.
On the other hand you can sometimes guess what they eat by looking at the mandibles (the chewing mouthparts on the 'face' of the beetle). You will need good lighting, a jewelers handlens, and a cooperative beetle to do this. If the mandibles are long and full of spines then it probably eats other insects. If they are short and close to the face then it probably eats plants. That's not a very good rule of thumb, but it might work for large beetles like what you describe. If you want better information than that, I suggest going to your nearest university's library and finding the following textbook. It has good family keys, but in order to use the keys you will have to spend some time learning beetle anatomy. Sorry, it's just a hard thing to do.
2006-07-13 23:18:23 · answer #2 · answered by fidowithaspot 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Search the Internet for beetles and type in pictures and species after the word. I just went through this process trying to identify a beetle I found, which was the most gorgeous creature as it was metallic green and red and sparkled like a jewel in the sun.
From everything I read, beetles eat leaves. But, you may want to check for yourself.
Good Luck!
2006-07-13 22:24:37 · answer #3 · answered by Just a Girl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try sending an enquiry through the Natural History Museum website. They ID'd a caterpillar for me once. You just get a quick answer unless you want to pay commmercial rates and they do appreciate a donation to keep the research going.
2006-07-14 08:57:31 · answer #4 · answered by felineroche 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ahh sounds like an '11year old boy eating beetle', quick run!
2006-07-13 22:23:06 · answer #5 · answered by Chazza 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋