Bacterial communities play a crucial role in the biology, ecology, and evolution of multicellular organisms. In this research, the
microbiome of 24 selected beetle species representing five families (Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Curculionidae, Chrysomelidae,
Scarabaeidae) and three trophic guilds (carnivorous, herbivorous, detrivorous) was examined using 16S rDNA sequencing on the
Illumina platform. The aim of the study was to compare diversity within and among species on various levels of organization,
including evaluation of the impact of endosymbiotic bacteria. Collected data showed that beetles possess various bacterial
communities and that microbiota of individuals of particular species hosts are intermixed. The most diverse microbiota were
found in Carabidae and Scarabaeidae; the least diverse, in Staphylinidae. On higher organization levels, the diversity of bacteria
was more dissimilar between families, while the most distinct with respect to their microbiomes were trophic guilds. Moreover,
eight taxa of endosymbiotic bacteria were detected including common genera such as Wolbachia, Rickettsia, and Spiroplasma, as
well as the rarely detected Cardinium, Arsenophonus, Buchnera, Sulcia, Regiella, and Serratia. There were no correlations
among the abundance of the most common Wolbachia and Rickettsia; a finding that does not support the hypothesis that these
bacteria occur interchangeably. The abundance of endosymbionts only weakly and negatively correlates with diversity of the
whole microbiome in beetles. Overall, microbiome diversity was found to be more dependent on host phylogeny than on the
abundance of endosymbionts. This is the first study in which bacteria diversity is compared between numerous species of beetles
in a standardized manner.