Beetles - Artensterben

Mono-Lake-Tauchkaefer / Mono Lake diving beetle (Hygrotus artus)

Until its rediscovery in 2017, the Mono Lake diving beetle was known only from the male holotype collected in June 1917 (photo), which is now housed in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (© Loggi at German Wikipedia., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

13. April 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Mono Lake diving beetle: missing for 100 years—and sought in the wrong place

A mistake with consequences For a long time, the case seemed clear: the Mono Lake diving beetle lived—so it was assumed—in Mono Lake in California’s Sierra Nevada. A lake that could hardly be more inhospitable: highly alkaline, extremely saline, and with conditions to which only a few specialized organisms can

Species-rich meadows are increasingly disappearing from the landscape. As insect species are lost, not only biodiversity declines, but also biomass – with consequences for entire ecosystems.

7. January 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

New study shows: insect biomass decline is primarily driven by species loss

For years, there has been talk of insect decline. People describe silent summer nights, clean windshields, and meadows where hardly anything is buzzing anymore. What was initially dismissed as a subjective impression has now been confirmed: several long-term studies show that insect biomass in Central Europe has declined sharply. The

Mecodema oconnori, verwandter des stephens-island-laufkäfer

Images of the Stephens Island Weevil are rare; the picture shows the ground beetle Mecodema oconnori, which belongs to the same genus. (© S.E. Thorpe, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

9. September 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Stephens Island Weevil

From isolated paradise to endangered habitat Stephens Island, a small rocky island in the Cook Strait, is renowned for its unique wildlife. Despite covering only 1.5 square kilometers, the island boasts a remarkable ecosystem that was once home to numerous endemic species, including many land and seabirds. Among its notable

The fairly large weevil Metapocyrtus (Orthocyrtus) bifoveatus, measuring 1.35 centimeters in length and rediscovered after around 100 years, is colored metallic green, blue and rust-brown. (© Tomislav Terzin et al, From deforestation to recovery: One new species and new record of the genus Metapocyrtus Heller, 1912 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae: Pachyrhynchini) from Negros Island, Philippines with the review of type material, Topola (2023). DOI: 10.5937/topola2312005T)

6. February 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Philippines: colorful weevil rediscovered after 100 years + new species found

Biologist Tom Terzin of the University of Alberta discovered two species of weevil in the rainforests of the Philippine island of Negros: one previously thought extinct and one entirely new species. What is especially interesting is that the finds, published in the journal Topola, show nature’s ability to recover after

The newly discovered scarab beetle species Semanopterus kingstoni was named after entomologist Tim Kingston, who had collected the only known specimen in 1979. (© Reid, Chris & TEES, NATALIE. (2023). A new, but possibly extinct, species of Semanopterus Hope, 1847 from Lord Howe Island, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae). Zootaxa. 5306. 563-570. 10.11646/zootaxa.5306.5.4.)

5. December 2023 Doreen Fräßdorf

New beetle species with unique trait discovered on island

Australian researchers recently discovered a previously unknown species of scarab beetle (Scarabaeidae) in the insect collection of the Australian Museum in Sydney. The specimen in question, a female, was collected on January 30, 1979 on Lord Howe, a small island of only 14 square kilometers in the southwest Pacific. The

For a beetle from the rove beetle family (Staphylinidae), Darwin's rove beetle is large at around two centimeters in body length. Its head and pronotum shine metallic blue-green. The wing covers, mouthparts, legs and abdomen of Darwin's rove beetle are brown. (© Natural History Museum: Coleoptera Section from South Kensingon, London, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

19. November 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Darwin’s Rove Beetle

A chance find gave it its own name On August 24, 1832, the HMS Beagle anchored in Bahía Blanca Province in eastern Argentina. On board the ship: the then 23-year-old British naturalist Charles Darwin. During the voyage he collected rock samples, plants, marine animals and a great many beetles. He

The back of the scarab beetle E. giganteus was completely black, red-brown at the sides, with yellow hairs and brownish mouthparts, feet and antennae. (© Rossini M, Vaz-de-Mello FZ, Montreuil O, Porch N, Tarasov S (2021) <a href="https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.70130" target="blank"Extinct before discovered? Epactoides giganteus sp. nov. (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae), the first native dung beetle to Réunion island. ZooKeys 1061: 75-86.)

1. July 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Epactoides giganteus (scarab beetle)

First extinct, then discovered: the scarab beetle Epactoides giganteus In 1817, the French botanist Nicolas Bréon found himself on Réunion, part of the Mascarene island group, which he would not leave again until 1833 due to health problems. During his time there he was director of the botanical garden Jardin

A+D: Megadytes ducalis (Brazilian diving beetle), B+E: M. lherminieri, C+F: M. magnus (© L. Hendrich, M. Manuel, M. Balke: The Return of the Duke, Vol. 4586 No. 3: 18 Apr. 2019, Licensed under CC BY 3.0)

24. December 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Brazilian diving beetle

“Giant of the Dytiscidae” Until recently, the Brazilian diving beetle Megadytes ducalis was known only from a single male specimen, which, according to rumors, was discovered before 1882 at the bottom of a water-filled canoe in the Amazon region of Brazil. It is currently housed at the Natural History Museum

Iberoporus pluto: ebenfalls ein Grundwasstier wie Perrins Höhlentauchkäfer

Iberoporus pluto, discovered in Portugal in 2019, is like Perrin's cave beetle blind and almost colorless. DNA analyses show that the species are related. (© Ribera I, Reboleira ASPS (2019). ZooKeys 813: 21-38, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

8. May 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Perrin’s Cave Beetle

The world’s first known groundwater beetle In the small commune of Le Beausset in southern France, a pharmacist discovered a sightless, pale, brownish-yellow beetle in a deep well in 1904. The amateur entomologist Elzéar Abeille de Perrin later gave the then unknown 2.25-millimeter-long diving beetle the name Siettitia balsetensis, or