Meatless Meals Not all beetles prey on other animals. Kavanaugh knows of plenty of beetles that eat plants. T ese beetles are herbivores. Herbivores feast on leaves, stems, and


roots. T ey also bore their way through bark and wood. Many beetles that eat plants have special mouthparts. T e acorn weevil is a good example. It


lives in Europe, North America, and Central America. T is beetle has a long snout, or nose. T e female’s nose is longer than her body. Her nose curves downward. T is shape helps her dig into plants. When she spots a juicy acorn, she drills her


snout into it. At the end of her snout is a pair of scissor-like jaws. T e jaws snip away tiny pieces of the acorn for her to eat. Other types of weevils use their jaws in a


diff erent way. T e female giraff e weevil looks for leaves. When she finds a large one, she chews a slit in one end. T en she rolls it into a tube. She lays a single egg inside. T e larva that hatches eats the leaf as its fi rst meal.


Plant Parts A rhinoceros beetle looks like a tank. Yet it feasts on plants. As it moves along, it sweeps its antennae back and forth. T ey pick up the scent of plant sap. T at’s a juice that flows inside plants. When the beetle finds sap, it slices the plant


stem with its powerful jaws. As sap oozes from the stem, the beetle mops it up with hairs on its mouthparts. T e hairs brush the sap into the beetle’s mouth. Unlike a rhino beetle, a Japanese beetle


looks harmless. By itself, it is. But these beetles don’t eat alone. T ey swarm. Together, they chew each plant from the


top down. Yet they don’t eat all of it. T ey only like the soſt parts inside the leaves. By the time they are done eating, each leaf is full of holes. It looks like a piece of lace. Some beetles even like poisonous plants.


Take the blue milkweed beetle, for example. It eats milkweed leaves. T e poison in the milkweed’s leaves doesn’t harm the beetle. It makes the beetle poisonous, though.


This male giraffe weevil has a long neck. It uses its neck to fi ght other weevils.


6 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


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