20 March 2016

Rove beetle

This rove beetle looked black until I saw it more closely and the beautiful, shiny colours became apparent. It was an aggressive little animal, though: when I gently coaxed it into a more accessible position to be photographed, it seemed keen on taking on my finger. Given how sharp those mandibles appear, I'm glad it wasn't larger.

[I've published a new post on Pohanginapete. If you're interested, check it out.]



All content © 2016 Pete McGregor

5 comments:

Zhoen said...

A gorgeous shiny creature, brave of you to coax, since he obviously is not to be messed with.

pohanginapete said...

Zhoen, if small invertebrates have nightmares, this beetle is the stuff of them.

Zhoen said...

pete,
Certain sure.

Lisa said...

It looks so ill-proportioned: those thin legs, all different lengths, look as if they would never keep that long body off the ground. And yet, for all that, it does have a dark beauty to it, doesn't it?

pohanginapete said...

Lisa, I see what you mean, but small things don't need big legs. It's all to do with the way an animal's weight increases much faster than the cross-section of its legs. If you could somehow enlarge this beetle to the size of an elephant, its legs would be far too thin to support its enormous weight — which would be quite a relief, because I wouldn't want to be chased by an elephant-sized rove beetle ;-)