Bug Watch have asked for sightings of oil beetles (link), and today on a walk along the Inny valley and up through Carthamatha we found this one (male, probably violet species) wandering across the footpath. As the link explains these beetles have the most amazing life cycles. Unfortunately when we tried to submit our sighting the site link broke down.
the lower picture is a better picture of the same species outside our house a few years ago (and qv ). I think they must be quite common around here
2 comments:
Saw three black oil beetles down near Cotehele Quay last weekend. From the size of one of them, I'd say it was clearly an egg-laden female. Don't you just love the word 'triungulin'?
I thought it was a female at first because the abdomen was soft and saggy and I thought full of eggs, but the reference guide from bug watch suggests that males have bent antennae as seen here. I suspect they are quite common locally. I think the whole life cycle from triungulin on is absolutely fascinating. One wonders how these complex parasitical life cycles ever get established.
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