7 REASONS BEETLESOWN THE PLANET

摘要

Beetles are arguably the most important and diverse organisms on Earth. The trouble is: we don't actually know how many species are out there. About 400,000 species have been described in scientific books and journals, and representative specimens arehoused in the world's museums, but surveys in the tropics suggest the true total may be anywhere from three to 33 million species. Even the experts can't agree, not even to within an order of magnitude. What's not in doubt is that there are a lot of them and they occupy almost every nook and cranny in the world. So how did beetles get to own the planet?