Types of Insects in the Beetle Family

Coccinellidae Family

• This large family is familiar to many. It includes ladybugs, or as they are sometimes known, ladybird beetles. Ladybugs live around the world. Most have brightly colored wings with black spots. Gardeners welcome these little beetles into their yards to eat aphids and other pests.

Lampyridae and Phengodidae Families

• The family names may be a mouthful, but these are other easily recognizable beetles. The Lampyridae family includes fireflies, and the Phengodidae family contains the glowworm. Only the larvae and the female glowworms have the bioluminescence that gives them their "glow." Adult and larval fireflies light up due to a chemical reaction in their abdomen.

Scarabaeidae Family

• The Scarabaeidae family includes both scarab beetles and dung beetles. Scarab beetles have metallic or brightly colored bodies that make them look like little jewels. The dung beetle was sacred to ancient Egyptians because they believed it represented the sun god Ra. The Egyptians equated the beetle rolling its ball of dung along the ground with Ra rolling the sun across the sky.

Lucanidae and Cerambycidae Families

• The Lucanidae family consists of the stag beetles, and the Cerambycidae family has the long-horned beetles. The difference between the two is that the "horns" of the stag beetle are actually enhanced mandibles that the males use to fight. The "horns" of long-horned beetles are long antennae that the insects use mainly as sensory aids.

Carabidae Family

• The Carabidae family contains a wide array of beetles all grouped under the name of ground beetles. This family includes bombardier beetles, violin beetles and tiger beetles. Many of these beetles produce a toxic chemical to attack other insects and are, therefore, welcome in the garden. Other members, however, eat plants and are seen as pests. The Carabidae collection at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., has over 140,000 specimens.