Dominant Insects.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 663, 17 January 1933, Page 6

Dominant Insects .

Nature Notes

By James Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S. JJEETI-ES are much less highly organised than butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, ants and flies, but they are very plentiful. They send representatives of their order, the Coleoptera, to the uttermost ends of the earth. They are the dominant order of insects, distinctive on account of their forewings, which are not used for flight, but form hard cases that fit close to the body and cover the hind-wings. Dr R. J. Tillyard states that, in spite of the countless numbers of beetles, less is known of their life histories than of the life-histories of any other large order of insects, and that comparatively few complete life-histories of New Zealand or Australian beetles have been worked out. Almost 200,000 species of beetles have been described. This is about 42 per cent of all species of insects known; the world’s total probably is about 1,000,000. As many as 17,000 species of beetles have been described in Australia, about 4200 in New Zealand.

Australia's beetle population is characterised by large, showy and beautiful forms. Except for the huhu beetle and a few other species, New Zealand’s beetles are mostly small, inconspicuous and drab.