Go Back   Wildlife and Environment Forums > World Wildlife > Insects and Invertebrates
Register FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

» Welcome to the Wildlife and Environment Forums
Wild About the World is a worldwide community covering everything from birds, insects, mammals and plants to travel, photography, climate change and conservation. Click here for your free login name and password.

We've just had a big redesign, clearout and added lots of new features so you can now upload photos and submit a link to your own wildlife and environment website.
» Log in
User Name Not a member yet?
Register Now!
Password
Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 12-11-2007, 05:05 PM
paul m's Avatar
Really Wild Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Sheffield, UK
Posts: 1,342
Bombardier beetles

This is a bombardier beetle that I found in grassland near Dol, Brittany - they're quite rare in UK. It's a small ground beetle which has the ability, when attacked, to release a stream of chemicals from its rear which ignite and explode!

There are several species - does anyone see them regularly? Brachinus crepitans is the most common in UK.



Better picture at:

http://bugguide.net/images/cache/5QV...2KQK2KEQNK.jpg
__________________
"Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence."
Napoleon Bonaparte
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 12-11-2007, 08:19 PM
Guy F's Avatar
Wild Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 422
I've never seen one personally, they sound very interesting. Have you ever seen one 'blast' anything?
Guy
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #3 (permalink)  
Old 13-11-2007, 11:38 AM
paul m's Avatar
Really Wild Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Sheffield, UK
Posts: 1,342
No, indeed, I've hardly ever seen the beetle .... I have seen it on film. I'm told that they used to be common in some places in London - if you didn't se them you could hear them cracking at night ....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Guy F View Post
I've never seen one personally, they sound very interesting. Have you ever seen one 'blast' anything?
Guy
__________________
"Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence."
Napoleon Bonaparte
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)  
Old 13-11-2007, 11:56 AM
goosey's Avatar
Really Wild Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: North Holland
Posts: 1,029
Quote:
Originally Posted by paul m View Post
This is a bombardier beetle that I found in grassland near Dol, Brittany - they're quite rare in UK. It's a small ground beetle which has the ability, when attacked, to release a stream of chemicals from its rear which ignite and explode!
Fantastic! I have never heard of, or seen them (I think, but they look familar). I have just had a quick google it says they are ground beetles Carabidae, but I can't see a latin name, but if there are over 500 species, that's alot of Latin names to devise!
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)  
Old 13-11-2007, 01:23 PM
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Belgium
Posts: 4
Brachynus

Hello
If you look up Brachynus crepitans, you'll find what you are after...
Cheers
Philippe
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #6 (permalink)  
Old 13-11-2007, 01:36 PM
paul m's Avatar
Really Wild Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Sheffield, UK
Posts: 1,342
Welcome Philippe. Nice to have some Belgian insect expertise here!

Quote:
Originally Posted by pgmoni View Post
Hello
If you look up Brachynus crepitans, you'll find what you are after...
Cheers
Philippe
__________________
"Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence."
Napoleon Bonaparte
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #7 (permalink)  
Old 13-11-2007, 01:42 PM
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Belgium
Posts: 4
Thanks for the word of welcome Paul.
Belgian it is, but I am not too sure about the expertise part !!

Philippe
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #8 (permalink)  
Old 13-11-2007, 02:21 PM
goosey's Avatar
Really Wild Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: North Holland
Posts: 1,029
Quote:
Originally Posted by pgmoni View Post
Hello
If you look up Brachynus crepitans, you'll find what you are after...
Cheers
Philippe
Thanks Phillipe, that's what I wanted. Good to have you with us! Welcome .
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #9 (permalink)  
Old 13-11-2007, 02:56 PM
goosey's Avatar
Really Wild Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: North Holland
Posts: 1,029
Philippe - a cheeky question, but are you the same Philippe that has the INSECTES11bisbis Webite? If you are, David Jones from My Bit of the Planet passed me your link back in May. A fantastic amount of work and information has gone into it - you should be really proud of it. If you are not the same Philippe, sorry, there are probably a lot of Philippes in Belgium . Have a look it is excellent!
I don't have any knowledge of French but manage with the Latin names to put in to English - thank goodness for Linnaeus!

Last edited by goosey : 13-11-2007 at 03:05 PM.
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #10 (permalink)  
Old 13-11-2007, 06:09 PM
H Dogg's Avatar
Active Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 33
The correct spelling for the Bombardier Beetle is as paul say's Brachinus crepitans. Unless it has changed very recently, which i arnt aware of. Although it seem's to have a y not an i in Brachinus in some non UK text although its the same species. Quite strange.
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


» Online Users: 364
4 members and 360 guests
envivatty, Pudding4brains, tony d, topbonuscasin
Most users ever online was 711, 18-02-2008 at 08:11 PM.
» New Wildlife Threads
Go to first new post Wildlife in Art
Last post by paul m
Yesterday 07:47 PM
25 Replies, 911 Views
Go to first new post Scale insects
Last post by paul m
Yesterday 07:22 PM
5 Replies, 242 Views
Go to first new post Another larva ID needed...
Last post by paul m
Yesterday 07:15 PM
1 Replies, 22 Views
Go to first new post Ground Beetle
Last post by paul m
Yesterday 04:25 PM
3 Replies, 85 Views
Go to first new post ID for Beetle, please.
Last post by paul m
Yesterday 11:51 AM
1 Replies, 22 Views
Go to first new post Garden flowers for ID...
Last post by goosey
Yesterday 11:00 AM
4 Replies, 27 Views
Go to first new post Id please......ladybird...
Last post by Pudding4brains
14-05-2008 08:37 PM
7 Replies, 166 Views
Go to first new post ID please - larvae in...
Last post by Pudding4brains
14-05-2008 02:14 PM
1 Replies, 44 Views
» New Community Threads
Go to first new post Acccording to your choice
Last post by KrisK
14-05-2008 03:42 PM
1 Replies, 36 Views
Go to first new post Hi to all
Last post by mtngoat
13-05-2008 02:14 AM
5 Replies, 100 Views
Go to first new post Gooseys first thousand
Last post by goosey
10-05-2008 09:56 PM
9 Replies, 123 Views
Photo collages
Last post by Pudding4brains
29-04-2008 05:23 PM
3 Replies, 127 Views
Bigma vs Nikon
Last post by animal_instincts
23-04-2008 11:42 AM
3 Replies, 401 Views
» Stats
Members: 8,554
Threads: 597
Posts: 2,879
Top Poster: paul m (1,342)
Welcome to our newest member, envivatty

All times are GMT. The time now is 04:00 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
SEO by vBSEO 3.1.0 ©2007, Crawlability, Inc.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25