Where’s the Rexona?

An interaction with a bright green beetle recently left me doubting my personal hygiene.

The critter in question was a Green Carabid Beetle (Calosoma schayeri), pictured above. Regarded as a beneficial insect this beetle has long legs for fast movement and is a voracious predator of caterpillars. The head of the beetle is equipped with an impressive array of mandibles and palps to help it sense and eat its prey (pictured below) and the wing-cases are ridged.  The larvae are also predacious feeding on the eggs, larvae and pupa of other insects. The adults live under bark on trees and the larvae live underground.

This beetle is a member of the larger family of beetles known as Carabidae or Ground Beetles. One of the features of this family is that members have glands on the abdomen which produce noxious fumes. In some species (not this one) the fumes can be injurious if not deadly to mammals and invertebrate animals looking to eat it for lunch.

Naturally I picked up the beetle to have a good look at it and it ‘bombed’ me. Only later when researching this blog did I realise my Rexona was working.

Nice to look at but…