Beetle pollinators can be found on flowers mostly from spring to summer. Their larvae develop as consumers of organic material, and are free-living predators or kleptoparasites, mostly of other insects. Flower visiting beetles are found on a variety of open flowers. The forewings are modified into elytra (sing. elytron), i.e. very hard pair of wings that cover and protect the abdomen and the hind pair of membranous wings. The mouthparts are of the biting or chewing type, with strong mandibles. Most pollinating beetles are dark-colored, but some of them have bright red or green colors. In general, beetles are among the most sedentary of all flower-visiting insects (except buprestid beetles), spending much time on the flowers and less moving on and between flowers and plants.
