Portuguese red-striped oil beetle
The Portuguese red-striped oil beetle is a chunky beetle with a big, round belly. It has no wings, so it walks everywhere on its six legs. In some places it is plain black, and in others it has bright stripes across its belly.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its colours change from place to place. In the far southwest the beetles are all black.
In the Spanish region of Extremadura its belly stripes are yellow to orange, and further north they turn deep red.
Scientists used to think it was the same as another oil beetle, but now it counts as a species of its own.
It helps flowers by carrying their pollen, just like a bee does.
Most asked questions about Portuguese red-striped oil beetle
?Where does the Portuguese red-striped oil beetle live?
In Portugal and the western part of Spain.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Berberomeloe castuo
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Meloidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Meloidae
- Lives on
- Europe
Where the facts come from
- Berberomeloe castuo (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by o6lfk. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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