Beetle

Beetle is the popular name for the members of that order of insects known as Coleoptera, in which the anterior pair of wings are converted into hard, horny cases (elytra) used to protect the pair of membranous flying wings. The order is a highly organised one. and contains upwards of 80,000 species. The term, like most of those in popular use, is very loosely applied, and it includes many insects which are not true beetles, such as the black beetle (an Orthopteran, q.v.). The account of the order is therefore given under Coleoptera.