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Sticker of Devil's coach horse
Bug card No. 0401 of 1,500

Devil's coach horse

Ocypus olens
Name means: “its scientific name olens means smelling, because it has two stinky glands at the end of its body”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsBeetlesGardens and meadows6 legs

The devil's coach horse is a long, black beetle covered in fine hairs. Its wing cases are very short, so you can see its long, bendy back end. When it is scared, it lifts its tail and opens its jaws, a bit like a scorpion.

Lives in
Most of Europe and North Africa, and now also parts of the western United States and Canada, in gardens, parks, meadows and woods
Length
2 to 3.2 cm (0.79 to 1.3 in)
Top speed
about 0.73 km/h (0.45 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite or sting
It has no sting, but it can give a painful bite with its strong jaws. Just watch its funny tail show and do not pick it up.
What does it eat?
It hunts at night for worms, slugs, spiders and woodlice, and also eats dead animals. Its larvae hunt the same kind of food.
For real!Photo of Devil's coach horse
Picture by Quartl. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Devil's coach horse about 3.2 cm long (1.3 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 5 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 4.9 seconds

How big is Devil's coach horse compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It can fly, but it hardly ever uses its wings.

2

When it raises its tail it can also let out a stinky smell from two white spots at the end of its body.

3

During the day it hides under logs, stones and leaves.

4

Its eggs are big for a beetle, about 4 millimetres long, and laid one by one in damp places.

5

An old British story says this beetle ate the core of Eve's apple.

you asked

Most asked questions about Devil's coach horse

?Does the devil's coach horse sting?

No. It has no sting, even though it lifts its tail like a scorpion. But it can bite.

?How big is a devil's coach horse?

It is 20 to 32 millimetres long, one of the bigger beetles in Europe.

?What does a devil's coach horse eat?

It hunts worms, slugs, spiders and woodlice, and also eats dead animals.

Myth buster

Myth: The devil's coach horse can sting like a scorpion.

Truth: No. It has no sting at all. It only raises its tail to scare enemies, but it can bite.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Ocypus olens
Named by
Müller, 1764
Group
Beetles
Family
Staphylinidae
Classification
Insecta > Coleoptera > Staphylinidae
Lives on
Europe, Africa, North America
Also known as
Devil's footman, Devil's coachman, Devil's steed, Cock-tail beetle

Where the facts come from

  1. Devil's coach horse beetle (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Quartl. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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 hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

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