Violin beetle
The violin beetle is a big, very flat beetle from the rainforests of Southeast Asia. Its wide see-through wing cases are shaped like a violin. Being so flat, it can slip into cracks and under tree bark.
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Fun facts
It can be 6 to 10 centimetres long, about as long as a grown-up's finger.
Its flat leaf-like shape helps it hide from animals that want to eat it.
Its larvae dig tunnels inside bracket fungi that can be 20 to 30 centimetres wide.
When it comes out, it squeezes through a hole smaller than its own body.
The grown-ups fly from August to November.
Most asked questions about Violin beetle
?Why is it called the violin beetle?
Because its wing cases have the shape of a violin.
?What does a violin beetle eat?
The grown-ups hunt small animals, and the larvae live inside bracket fungi.
?How big is the violin beetle?
It is 6 to 10 centimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Mormolyce phyllodes
- Named by
- Hagenbach, 1825
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Carabidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Carabidae
- Lives on
- Asia
Where the facts come from
- Mormolyce phyllodes (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 Orbigny, Charles Dessalines d'. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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