Violet Oil Beetle
Meloe violaceus
Summary 2
The violet oil beetle (meloe violaceus) is a species of oil beetle belonging to the meloidae family.
This species is characterized by hypermetamorphosis, a kind of complete insect metamorphosis in which, in addition to the normal stages of larva, nymph and imago, they have several others, which great differences in appearance and way of life.
The adult violet oil beetle lives on a sunny, dry area with flowering plants where they feed on the pollen.
From May to June the female digs 20 to 30 millimetre cylindrical holes in the soil where they lay about 2000 to 10,000 eggs.
After about a month larvae emerge from eggs and climb up on grass or on flowers, waiting to cling to the thorax of approaching potential host insects seeking pollen or nectar.
The larvae have an exclusively parasitic life, primarily in the nests of solitary bees, or sometimes locusts. If the larvae have inadvertently selected a honey bee, they die in the hive and may cause serious damage.
When the host female bee lays eggs in its cells, the first-stage larva of the violet oil beetle eats the eggs of the bee, increases in volume and becomes the second-stage larva, which continues its development eating honey and pollen. The larva, agter other two stages, forms the nymph and finally the imago.
Sources and Credits
- (c) John Smith, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by John Smith
- Adapted by John Smith from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meloe_violaceus
