Beetle-bug - a brightly colored insect of medium size. Its bizarre appearance attracts children. They may want to touch this insect. However, one must remember that the plague beetle is poisonous and can be dangerous under certain conditions.
Description
These insects are characterized by a bright color with a metallic tint, a narrowed head with antennae, and the presence of flexible elytra. The plague beetle has a body length of about two centimeters. The insect leads a daily life, feeds on soft leaves of herbs, shrubs, cultivated plants. These bugs (photo gives an idea of the diversity of their colors) are very voracious. They are able to absorb the amount of food eleven times their own mass per day.
Depending on what species the plague beetle belongs to, its mating season may occur at different times of the year. These insects do not build their own nests, but find ready-made locust nests and lay their eggs there.
Some species lay eggs in
bee larvae and lead a parasitic lifestyle for a short time. But in the adult stage, they all switch to eating leaves of shrubs and trees.
Bug beetle: photo and habitat
Although most of these insects live in the subtropics, in Russia there are also about one hundred and fifty species. The not very harmonious name of the beetle is associated with its significant species trait. The blood of the insect contains the poison cantharidin, which, on contact with the skin, causes a chemical burn, and then an abscess. Pets that accidentally swallow a bug along with grass can get very sick. However, chickens, swallows, and hedgehogs are immune to the poison of the pliers and can eat these insects without any consequences for themselves.
A large number of these bugs can be harmful to agriculture. For example, in Kazakhstan, there are about forty species of poisonous plagues. They live in deserts, steppes and foothills of the flat part of the republic.
From May to August, during the period of greatest activity, these insects form huge clusters. They feed on such crops as alfalfa, soybeans, melons and cotton. They can cause great damage to plantations if they multiply in large numbers. The abscess larvae are called triungulins (due to their triangular shape). In some species, they feed on locust larvae. With this, the boilers partly compensate for the damage that adults do to the plantings. Such a look as Frolov’s plaque has a particularly bright color - the round wings of this beetle have a rich scarlet color with black spots.
Danger to humans
The properties of pliers toxin have been known since ancient times. Nomadic peoples noted an increased likelihood of cattle mortality in those places where these beetles were found in abundance. The formula of the poison of the bombers was studied by French scientists. It is so toxic that it can even cause human death if synthesized artificially. The beetle emits poison when touched. Getting on human skin, this substance causes a blister. In violation of the integrity of this formation, pain and itching appear. With extensive damage, ulcers occur that are treated symptomatically.