Oil Beetle
April 25th, 2015
I couldn't tell much about this beetle by naked eye. It just looked like it was clambering around in the grass. But it took on a lot more personality under the zoom lens. I have seldom seen a creature eat with as much gusto as it was eating on that grass stalk--you could almost hear the "OM NOM NOM" sounds.
Oil beetles (also called blister beetles) have a fascinating start to life. Once they hatch, the larvae will climb up a flower stalk and gather in a mass that roughly approximates the shape of a bee, while also emitting a fake female-bee-pheromone smell (which species of bee depends on which species of oil beetle.) When a male comes and attempts to mate with this trojan bee, the larvae separate and climb onto him, and then when he finds a real female bee to mate with, climb onto her. They finally end up in the underground nest where she lays her eggs, where they will proceed to eat the honey and pollen she provisioned her young with, and then eat the eggs too.
April 25th, 2015
I couldn't tell much about this beetle by naked eye. It just looked like it was clambering around in the grass. But it took on a lot more personality under the zoom lens. I have seldom seen a creature eat with as much gusto as it was eating on that grass stalk--you could almost hear the "OM NOM NOM" sounds.
Oil beetles (also called blister beetles) have a fascinating start to life. Once they hatch, the larvae will climb up a flower stalk and gather in a mass that roughly approximates the shape of a bee, while also emitting a fake female-bee-pheromone smell (which species of bee depends on which species of oil beetle.) When a male comes and attempts to mate with this trojan bee, the larvae separate and climb onto him, and then when he finds a real female bee to mate with, climb onto her. They finally end up in the underground nest where she lays her eggs, where they will proceed to eat the honey and pollen she provisioned her young with, and then eat the eggs too.
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Mustang Sallie
April 25th, 2015 at 8:21 pm
Such is life in the mini universe.
Mike
April 26th, 2015 at 10:31 am
Not bad without a macro lens!
From the back, I recall that its color looked more green.
Insects have some pretty amazingly specialized niches!