What Makes a Beetle a Beetle

Haliplidae (Crawling Water Beetle)

Dr. Art Evans talks with WCVE Public Radio producer Steve Clark about just what does make a beetle (Coleoptera) a beetle. Species in the order Coleoptera are generally characterized by a particularly hard exoskeleton and hard forewings (elytra). Beetles are endopterygotes, which means that they undergo complete metamorphosis, a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, undergoing a series of conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the its body structure. Listen to find out more.