This is a picture of one of our first beetles! We have had a lot of fun with our mealworms! At first the students were confused because we started talking about insects. They caught on quickly that a worm is not an insect and many asked why we were going to take care of mealworms. What they didn't know is that they would eventually change to a beetle! The day our first beetle arrived was SO EXCITING! Here are some interesting things about meal worms and beetles....
Q: How many types of beetles are there?
A: There are more kinds of beetles on earth than kinds of anything else! Scientists have estimated that there are over 350,000 kinds of beetles. Some scientists estimate that beetles account for at least a million of the earth's six million animal species.
Q: Where do mealworms live?
A: They live in a lot of places, most of them cool and damp. Unfortunately, they also like to live in your cupboards! They can also be pesty in stored grain. The mealworm is really the larval stage of a black beetle.
Q: What eats meal worms?
A: Lots of things can prey on the larval stage of mealworms. Two examples are birds and other insects. Mealworms may also be sold in pet stores to feed to lizards and other pets.
Q: How are mealworms born?
A: Mealworms, like most insects, hatch from eggs. The adult female mealworm lays about 275 eggs, which hatch in one to two weeks. And out pop tiny mealworms!
Q: How does a mealworm turn into a beetle?
A: Beetles can be a lot like butterflies. They have a larval stage, a pupal stage, and an adult stage. In butterflies we usually call those stages "caterpillar," "chrysalis," and "butterfly." In beetles we usually call them "grub" (or larva), "pupa" and "beetle." So after a year or two as a mealworm, the mealworm will form a pupa and after a few weeks will emerge as an adult beetle. Marvelous!
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