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Sticker of Pinacate beetle
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Pinacate beetle

Eleodes
Name means: “black beetle, from the Aztec word pinacatl”
Eats: Leftovers and dead thingsBeetlesDeserts and dry places6 legs

The pinacate beetle is a black beetle that slowly wanders across the desert. When something scares it, it does a headstand and sticks its bottom up in the air. If the enemy does not go away, it lets out a very stinky liquid.

Lives in
Western North America, from southern Canada to Mexico, mostly in deserts
Length
1 to 5 cm (0.39 to 2 in)
Top speed
about 0.91 km/h (0.57 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting, but its smelly spray is very yucky, so leave it alone and wash your hands if you touch one.
What does it eat?
It eats bits of dead plants and animals that it finds on the ground at night. Some kinds also nibble living plants, and their larvae chew on roots.
For real!Photo of Pinacate beetle
Picture by Ken-Ichi Ueda. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Pinacate beetle about 5 cm long (2 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 8 grains of rice in a rowas long as 1.5 toy building bricks in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 4 seconds

How big is Pinacate beetle compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It cannot fly. Its hard wing cases are stuck together like a shell.

2

Desert kinds are extra big, because a bigger body can hold more water in the dry heat.

3

In summer it comes out at night to escape the heat, but in autumn and spring it is busy during the day.

4

Every morning it looks for a new place to hide for the day, often in a mouse or rat burrow.

5

Some kinds live only in caves and come out just to look for food.

you asked

Most asked questions about Pinacate beetle

?Are pinacate beetles poisonous?

No. Their smelly liquid tastes horrible to animals that try to eat them, but it is not poisonous.

?Why do pinacate beetles stand on their heads?

It is a warning. The headstand tells hungry animals: stay away or I will spray you with something stinky.

?Can pinacate beetles fly?

No. Their wing cases are joined together, so they walk everywhere.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Eleodes
Group
Beetles
Family
Tenebrionidae
Classification
Insecta > Coleoptera > Tenebrionidae
Lives on
North America, South America
Also known as
Desert stink beetle

Where the facts come from

  1. Eleodes (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 Ken-Ichi Ueda. CC BY 4.0, 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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