Bloody-nosed beetle

Bloody-nosed beetle
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Family:	Chrysomelidae
Genus:	Timarcha
Species:	T. tenebricosa
Binomial name
Timarcha tenebricosa (Fabricius, 1775)

The bloody-nosed beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa) is a large flightless leaf beetle. It gets its common name from a defensive behaviour of exuding a foul-tasting bright red fluid from its mouth, and is also called blood spewer or blood spewing beetle.

Average specimens are quite squat being about 2 cm (3/4 inch) long, and about half that wide. They are black to bluish or purplish black in colour. The beetle can be found in southern and central Europe, and is common in Britain and Ireland.

External links

• Bloody-nosed beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa) at arkive.org;
• "Wildlife: insects: Bloody-nosed Beetle" Tiscali Reference Encyclopedia;
• "Bloody-Nosed Beetles - Timarcha tenebricosa - UK Safari";
• "The Bloody-nosed Beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa)" Cambridge Green Belt Project;