Meloe tropicus a curious tropical forest insect

Today I want to share with you about a truly curious insect, which is not very common to observe and can easily be confused with something else. I discovered it by accident while I was trying to photograph mushrooms, I threw myself to the ground to get a different perspective and that caused my little friend to come out of his lair. He was not so small, because he could measure the size of a little finger, he moved slowly and that allowed me to take several photographs. Upon returning home, I set out to identify him and I must confess that it was not an easy task, but in the end I managed to find the information.

It is a species that belongs to the coleoptera group, specifically to the Meloidae family. These insects are characterized by being poisonous since they produce a very powerful toxin called cantarina (formerly used as an aphrodisiac), which can cause lesions on the skin of other animals. Poisoning has even been observed from cattle that accidentally consume some of these dead insects.

The specific genus Meloe constitutes about 150 species, and they are commonly known as oil beetles or oil beetles. This genus does not have wings so its elytra (structures that protect the wings from insects) are greatly reduced. This genus is better known in the Mediterranean area and although a large number of them live in Costa Rica, they are not easy to observe in the tropical forest.