An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles

When J.B.S. Haldane, a well-known British geneticist and evolutionary biologist of the last century, was pressed by a clergyman to explain what could be inferred about the Creator from his study of creation, Haldane is said to have replied, “An inordinate fondness for beetles.”

While historians debate whether Haldane actually said that, no one disputes whether the statement is true. Simply put, God must love beetles. Though species estimates vary widely, science has identified and described some 370,000 species of beetles—accounting for roughly a fifth of all living organisms and a fourth of all animals. That means more types of beetles than types of plants. Incredible.

To cite another example, Smithsonian entomologist Terry Erwin has collected some 25,000 species of beetles from a single study site in the rainforest of Central America, with some 80% of those species previously unknown to science.

Why would the good Lord pay so much attention to beetles? I’ll add that to a growing list of life’s imponderables. Regardless of the answer, you’ve got to admit: beetles are cool. I’ve stumbled across them in all shapes, sizes, and colors, from little ones an iridescent orange and green, to assassin beetles mottled white and neon blue, to great black horned things that push along the ground like miniature tanks.

Several years ago, I used a 10x jeweler’s loop to watch a ladybug devour an aphid. Think lady bugs are cute? It looked like a fat guy tucking into a watermelon on a hot summer day.

Yep, beetles are cool.

(Photo courtesy of Natalini Butterflies and Moths; available at: http://www.butterflybeetle.com/beetle_group.html. Other sources: Arthur Evans and Charles Bellamy, An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles, University of California Press 2000, website at http://www.fond4beetles.com/; Morgan Simmons, Entomologist brings tropical studies to local conference: Biodiversity in Smokies pales in comparison to that in Amazon (December 3, 2008), Knoxville News Sentinel, available at http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/dec/03/entomologist-brings-tropical-studies-to-local/?printer=1/.)