Bloody-noses in the grass
8th April 2019 As we sat down to have our coffee the other morning while walking the coastal path on Gower i was visited by one of my favourite beetles. In fact it is one of only 4 beetles I can easily identify without long periods of time staring at field guides. Mind you I’m not including Ladybirds in this short list. I have a fighting chance with them. The curiously named Bloody-nosed Beetle ( Trimarcha tenebricosa) gets it’s name from a defensive reaction when threatened. It releases red coloured hemoplymph from it’s nose area (if a beetle has a nose that is). This apparently tastes foul, though I’m certainly not going to test it myself, intended to prevent anything from eating it. At between 18-23mm longs, it’s among the largest of beetles tat are found in the UK. The coastal path is an ideal environment of it to thrive as it favours grassland, heathland and hedgerows where Ladies Bedstraw and Cleavers(Goosegrass) are readily found for the larvae to feed upon. The life-c...