The lowly beetles....not so lowly---nor lonely...

Fully 25 % estimates of all known species (metazoan), and 40% of their kin in the class Insecta. Sure, those colorful hard protective second retractable wings (elytra) may have played a part. And possessing the miracle of metamorphosis can't hurt. Those larval stages can bore through even the toughest tree barks. Protection then through the harsher seasons, and from most clever predators, only to emerge as adults in prolific reproductive/migratory life stages. But so what? Other orders of Insecta enjoy similar evolutionary adaptations. No, oh my brilliant CS friends, these Coleopteran marvels somehow have figured out much more in the struggle for life. Several threads of evidence now converge to show how, as with some ruminant mammals, these insects can digest all sorts of plant based very tough items, many based on the strongest cellulose polymers. But ready for the kickers here? Seems as though this huge survival trick was borrowed from bacteria, and "lower" plants, such as fungi. And accomplished, again somehow, by incorporating the DNA of these other life forms, into their own genomes. But more amazing, is that these little friends, again somehow, may have done so 100 large, VERY large, years before even the dinosaurs shuffled onto the scene. And they are still here, in strong numbers, VERY strong, some 60 million years after the dinosaurs sauntered OFF the scene. Sure, bacteria, using quasi " mating" techniques, can swap genetic material. One factor behind the growth of resistance to most commercial antibiotics. And deep shite for us all. But how the heck can the beetles have done so? Let's hear from the marginally educated ignoramuses here who will complain that a post like this, as with religion, and politics, so important to many, and definitely revealing in the great search for mates, is out of place. Pathetic. Revealing. Not unexpected. Pretty soon these mini minds will begin to call for a ban on flirting-on a dating site-of all places----can't make this stuff up folks.