Editing Beetle (section)

===As pests===
[[File:Cotton boll weevil.jpg|thumb|left|[[Cotton boll weevil]]]]

About 75% of beetle species are phytophagous in both the larval and adult stages. Many feed on economically important plants and stored plant products, including trees, cereals, tobacco, and dried fruits.<ref name="Gilliott"/> Some, such as the [[boll weevil]], which feeds on cotton buds and flowers, can cause extremely serious damage to agriculture. The boll weevil crossed the [[Rio Grande]] near [[Brownsville, Texas|Brownsville]], [[Texas]], to enter the [[United States]] from [[Mexico]] around 1892,<ref name="msstate"/> and had reached southeastern [[Alabama]] by 1915. By the mid-1920s, it had entered all cotton-growing regions in the US, traveling {{convert|40|to(-)|160|mi|-1}} per year. It remains the most destructive cotton pest in North America. [[Mississippi State University]] has estimated, since the boll weevil entered the United States, it has cost cotton producers about $13&nbsp;billion, and in recent times about $300&nbsp;million per year.<ref name="msstate">{{cite web |url=http://www.bollweevil.ext.msstate.edu/webpage_history.htm |work=Economic impacts of the boll weevil |title=History of the Boll Weevil in the United States |author=Mississippi State University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512023346/http://www.bollweevil.ext.msstate.edu/webpage_history.htm |archive-date=May 12, 2008}}</ref>

The [[bark beetle]], [[elm leaf beetle]] and the Asian longhorned beetle (''[[Anoplophora glabripennis]]'')<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/07060660309506983 |title=Nonindigenous species introductions: A threat to Canada's forests and forest economy |journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=103–110 |year=2002 |last1=Allen |first1=E. A. |last2=Humble |first2=L. M.|bibcode=2002CaJPP..24..103A |s2cid=85073955 }}</ref> are among the species that attack [[elm]] trees. Bark beetles ([[Scolytidae]]) carry [[Dutch elm disease]] as they move from infected breeding sites to healthy trees. The disease has devastated elm trees across Europe and North America.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-1-4615-4507-1_3 |chapter=Insect Vector Behavior and the Evolution of Dutch Elm Disease |title=The Elms |page=47 |year=2000 |last1=Webber |first1=Joan F. |isbn=978-1-4613-7032-1}}</ref>

[[File:Potato beetle larvae.jpg|thumb|Larvae of the [[Colorado potato beetle]], ''Leptinotarsa decemlineata'', a serious crop pest]]

Some species of beetle have evolved immunity to insecticides. For example, the [[Colorado potato beetle]], ''Leptinotarsa decemlineata'', is a destructive pest of potato plants. Its hosts include other members of the [[Solanaceae]], such as [[nightshade]], [[tomato]], [[eggplant]] and [[capsicum]], as well as the potato. Different populations have between them developed resistance to all major classes of insecticide.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Alyokhin, A. |author2=Baker, M. |author3=Mota-Sanchez, D. |author4=Dively, G. |author5=Grafius, E. |year=2008 |title=Colorado potato beetle resistance to insecticides |journal=American Journal of Potato Research |volume=85 |pages=395–413 |doi=10.1007/s12230-008-9052-0 |issue=6|s2cid=41206911 }}</ref> The Colorado potato beetle was evaluated as a tool of [[entomological warfare]] during [[World War II]], the idea being to use the beetle and its larvae to damage the crops of enemy nations.<ref name=lockwoodbost>{{cite news |author1=Lockwood, Jeffrey A. |url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/10/21/bug_bomb |title=Bug bomb:Why our next terrorist attack could come on six legs |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=2007-10-21 |access-date=2017-02-13}}</ref> Germany tested its Colorado potato beetle weaponisation program south of [[Frankfurt]], releasing 54,000 beetles.<ref name=heather>{{cite book |author1=Heather, Neil W. |author2=Hallman, Guy J. |title=Pest Management and Phytosanitary Trade Barriers |url=https://archive.org/details/pestmanagementph00hall |url-access=limited |publisher=CABI |date=2008 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/pestmanagementph00hall/page/n27 17]–18 |isbn=978-1-84593-343-2 |doi=10.1079/9781845933432.0000}}</ref>

The [[death watch beetle]], ''Xestobium rufovillosum'' ([[Ptinidae]]), is a serious pest of older wooden buildings in Europe. It attacks [[hardwood]]s such as [[oak]] and [[chestnut]], always where some fungal decay has taken or is taking place. The actual introduction of the pest into buildings is thought to take place at the time of construction.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/preservation/training/pests/watch.htm |title=Pests – Death watch beetle |publisher=[[University of Oxford]] |work=Conservation and collective care |year=2005 |access-date=July 17, 2011 |author=Adcock, Edward |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710144935/http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/preservation/training/pests/watch.htm |archive-date=July 10, 2011  }}</ref>

Other pests include the coconut hispine beetle, ''[[Brontispa longissima]]'', which feeds on young [[leaves]], [[seedlings]] and mature [[coconut]] trees, causing serious economic damage in the [[Philippines]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1111/ens.12048 |title=Suitability of four palm species for the development of the invasive pest ''Brontispa'' longissima(Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in the field |journal=Entomological Science |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=265–268 |year=2014 |last1=Takano |first1=Shun-Ichiro |last2=Takasu |first2=Keiji |last3=Fushimi |first3=Tsutomu |last4=Ichiki |first4=Ryoko T. |last5=Nakamura |first5=Satoshi|s2cid=85910791 }}</ref> The [[mountain pine beetle]] is a destructive pest of mature or weakened [[lodgepole pine]], sometimes affecting large areas of Canada.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mpb.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/biology/introduction_e.html |title=The Mountain Pine Beetle in British Columbia |publisher=[[Natural Resources Canada]] |date=August 19, 2008 |access-date=June 24, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100419214859/http://mpb.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/biology/introduction_e.html |archive-date=April 19, 2010}}</ref>