Woolly darkling beetle
Eleodes osculans
This black beetle wears a coat of reddish brown hair, like a tiny woolly jumper. It is a stink beetle. When it feels scared, it lifts its bottom high in the air and lets out a smelly liquid.
Lives in
Coastal southern and central California and Baja California, in woods and dry scrubland
Length
1.2 to 1.6 cm (0.47 to 0.63 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting, but its smell is not nice, so let it walk away.
What does it eat?
Darkling beetles like it mostly nibble on dead plant bits on the ground.
How big is it?
How long is it?
🍚as long as 2.5 grains of rice in a row🍽️could run across a dinner table in 6.9 seconds
How big is Woolly darkling beetle compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A garden snail about 0.05 km/h (0.03 mph)
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
Woolly darkling beetle about 0.52 km/h (0.32 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It is the only known darkling beetle with reddish brown hair over most of its black body.
2
Its headstand trick is easy to see: bottom up, smell on.
3
Two of its cousins look much like it, but their hair is darker.
you asked
Most asked questions about Woolly darkling beetle
?Why does the woolly darkling beetle stand on its head?
It lifts its bottom to warn enemies, and then lets out a bad-smelling liquid.
?Is the woolly darkling beetle dangerous?
No. It is harmless, it just smells bad when it is scared.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Eleodes osculans
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Tenebrionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Tenebrionidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Woolly ground beetle
Where the facts come from
- Eleodes osculans (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 Junkyardsparkle. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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