Beetles can be beneficial for healthy yards. Shown here are specimens of fiery searchers or caterpillar hunters, which are ground beetles, from Michigan Tech University’s insect collection. (Photo courtesy of MTU)

MARQUETTE — They come with monikers such as pleasing fungus beetle and lightningbug, and can be brightly colored or not. Either way, beetles can be a good addition to a healthy yard.

The Keweenaw Wild Ones sponsored a Dec. 7 Zoom event titled “‘An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles’: An Intro to Beetle Diversity, Life History, and Role as Beneficial Insects in our Gardens.”

Marcia Goodrich, president of the Keweenaw Wild Ones, said, “We’re a national nonprofit, and we’re committed to getting more native plants in the landscape. Native plants are really beautiful and interesting, but the most compelling reason to grow them is to restore a little bit of the natural landscape that we humans have done such a great job of destroying.

“When you plant native plants, you’re growing new homes for all the wild critters out there that are having a hard time of it, including birds, bees, butterflies and, of course, beetles.”

Leading the presentation was Tara L. Bal, Ph.D., assistant professor of forest health at Michigan Tech University.

“They’re one of my favorite organism groups,” Bal said of beetles.

She asked participants: “What’s the first image of a beetle that comes to your mind? What do you picture in your head?”

Ladybugs and fireflies, also known as lightningbugs, were mentioned, but they also were asked to name more beetles. (One person did name the pleasing fungus beetle.)

It’s not that easy, especially if people aren’t trained in entomology.

“Our brains kind of lock up,” Bal said.

She hoped the Zoom event would open up their minds to the numerous species of beetles, especially the common ones that can be found when there’s not “feet of snow” outside.

What makes a beetle a beetle?

“They’re all kind of interesting in their own ways,” Bal said.

One part of their description might sound a little intimidating. For example, Bal used the words “big,” “biting” and “chewing” to describe their front mandibles.

“A lot of beetles, you pick it up, they’re not going to sting or hurt you like a wasp or bee might, but they might give you a good pinch on the hand as they bite you,” Bal said.

That’s not to say beetles should be feared.

Anatomically speaking, they are interesting.

Their order, Coleoptera, means “sheathed wings,” she said. The coverings for their wings are called elytra, which Bal noted fly around in the sky in the game Minecraft.

“If you have grandkids or kids, that they know about Minecraft, they know about a beetle word,” she said.

Beetles themselves have a variety of names, which indicate how successful they are at survival.

“They can literally inhabit everything,” Bal said.

They’re also named after their wide-ranging diets.

“You have flowers and fungus and bark and sap and wood, water,” Bal said. “You have carrion beetles eating dead things, dung beetles, larder beetles in our cupboards in our houses.”

They also can visit flowers, meaning they can pollinate them.

Different beetles can be prolific. Just look at the number of species of known ground beetles in eastern North America — 2,439, to be exact.

Besides being numerous, ground beetles have their good points.

“They tend to be nocturnal hunters when they’re going out, so ground beetles actually do make really good pest control as they’re eating on slugs and snails and any other invertebrates they find on the ground,” Bal said.

Carrion beetles are aptly named.

“They really do focus on animal corpses,” Bal said.

Burying beetles have a unique trait as well.

“They specifically like to find small animal carcases, so they will find a dead mouse in the forest and make a little crypt for it,” she said.

The crypt doesn’t go to waste.

“Inside of that crypt, they rear their eggs,” Bal said. “They take care of their larvae. They’re actually really, really excellent parents.”

Attracting beetles to a garden involves special practices.

“A lot of things that you might do for other wildlife, for other insects, probably are going to also benefit and attract more beetles as well,” Bal said.

Her list of beetle-friendly practices includes these tips:

≤ Let your lawn grow longer.

≤ Leave an area of lawn unmowed.

≤ Have taller or larger plants.

≤ Have lower-growing plants that allow the ground to stay covered and shady during the day.

≤ Don’t be in a hurry to rake leaves in the fall.

≤ Turn off outside lights to allow lightningbugs, for example, to not be distracted and therefore be vulnerable to predators.

≤ Have leaf piles or compost heaps.

Maybe grubs in lawns aren’t such as bad thing either.

Grubs, which are the larvae of certain beetles, might be considered a nuisance, but it depends on a person’s perspective, especially if that person likes to see the occasional raccoon.

“Do you like seeing other kinds of wildlife in your yard and gardens?” Bal asked. “Then leave the grubs for food for other things.

More information about the Keweenaw Wild Ones can be found at keweenaw.wildones.org.