India, Feb. 23 -- There are four lakh species of beetles in the world; the largest order in the animal kingdom.
Many are agricultural pests. (It's strawberry fields forever, for the sap beetle.)
Most are herbivores, but not all. Some have evolved to eat other animals.
That's how tiger beetles got their name.
These tiny, colourful predators are voracious hunters that feed on caterpillars, grasshoppers, ants, spiders, other beetles - anything they can get their long sickle-shaped mandibles into.
"They are fascinating creatures," says VP Uniyal, 62, an entomologist with the research body Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun.
His Field Guide to the Tiger Beetles of India, co-authored with David L Pearson (right), Jurgen Wiesner, Robert...