Can Darkling Beetles Fly? I searched the internet on the question whether darkling beetles can fly, and I read mixed results to it. Some say they can, there are even videos about it, but then again they say that they cannot, due to fused wings or the like. I am currently interested in mealworms, and plan to farm some myself, and some people show their containers without covers, even though the beetles should be able to fly out then, shouldnt they? This is really confusing to me, thanks for the awnsers.

Short answer; It depends. Darkling beetles is a very large family of beetles (Tenebrionidae) where some species can fly and some do not. Looking more narrowly at the genus _Tribolium_ (i.e. mealworms), which many people refer to when they talk about darkling beetles, it also differs. The common _Tribolium castaneum_ (red flour beetle) as well as _T. molitor_ are good fliers, while _T. destructor_ does not fly. The same goes for the confused flour beetle ( _T. confusum_ ), which is not know to fly from what I know.