A very interesting post @agmoore, I have seen a lot of these beetles only in photos shared in entomology groups, they always recommend not to manipulate them in the same way you have highlighted in this post. On the other hand, I found it very curious about the soldier and the bet, it reminded me of a case of a teenager who also for a bet ate a slug and ended up with brain damage.
Beetles are very interesting, we can see them as very quiet insects, but what few know is that they can be provided with very powerful defense mechanisms, for example, bombardier beetles can shoot chemicals capable of burning or irritating the skin, it must not be anything nice that one of those "chemical shots" goes to one of our eyes 😄.
Nice to read you again, hope everything is going very well.
Oh my. That's just terrible. When you are a parent you worry about just such stories. The young can be so foolish. No way to protect them from themselves.
Thank you for reading and commenting. I did find this insect fascinating. The insect world is all around us, with infinite variety and most times we (not you) don't appreciate the significance of that. As an entomologist, you can never run out of topics to write about :))
Summer here is wilting everything--I still prefer it to winter :) Hope you are faring well this season.
Take care,
Your friend, AG
That's right, it is unfortunate how many young people throw their lives away for gambling.
On the other hand, there are many topics that can be used to give life to a post on entomology, but what sometimes makes everything difficult is to gather the photos or images that are needed, this being one of the reasons why many times I don't post on a regular basis.
Here in Venezuela the rains continue, after the strong heat of months ago the plants recover their beautiful green color, but also the mosquitoes reappear in great numbers looking for our blood 😅😅. I hope you have a great Friday.
!! 😂