Kabutomushi

Beetles are insects that appear in the Marioverse. They first appeared in the Super Mario Bros. Super Show! in "Princess, I Shrunk the Mario Brothers". They were hiding in pipes and Mario and Luigi were atacked by the Beetles. Later though, Mario and Luigi managed to get out of the pipe.

All beetles have wings and hard shells protecting their wings. In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Booster collects beetles, but does not catch them himself, instead forcing his Snifits to make a hobby of capturing the beetles for him. By renting a Beetle Box for 150 coins and traveling to Booster Hill, home of the Beetle Race minigame, anyone can join in the fun and try to catch beetles along with the Snifits. Each Beetle can then by traded at Beetles Are Us for a predetermined amount of coins. Golden Beetles are worth one Frog Coin, male Beetles are worth fifty coins, and females only one coin.

A "burping beetle" was briefly mentioned by Grubba in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. When Mario was eavesdropping on Grubba, Mario made a noise. Suddenly alert, Grubba wondered who it could be. Mario responded with a loud burp. Grubba relaxed, stating that the intruder was only a burping beetle. Burping beetles seem to naturally live in the Glitz Pit, as Grubba was not surprised to hear one and did not attempt to call any exterminator.

Earlier Mario enemies Buzzy Beetle and Battle Beetle could be considered beetles, but look vastly different than the generic Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars beetles.