The "devil's bug" refers to the Devil's coach-horse beetle (Ocypus olens), a large, black rove beetle known for its aggressive scorpion-like defensive posture, where it raises its abdomen and can emit a foul-smelling liquid, plus deliver a painful bite with its powerful jaws, making it seem menacing despite being harmless to humans unless provoked. These beetles are beneficial predators in gardens, eating pests like slugs and snails, and are found in damp, dark places, often near rotting organic matter.
The Devil's coach horse (Ocypus olens) rears up its tail (abdomen) like a scorpion when threatened. Many superstitions have surrounded this beetle - including its ability to curse a person by pointing its raised tail in their direction!
This is the largest beetle family with around 63,000 species worldwide and 1000 in the UK, making up roughly 25% of British species. Devil's Coach-horses are common and widespread in the UK. They are native to the UK and Europe, but introduced to parts of Australasia and America.
Powerful predators of the insect world, the devil's coach horse feeds on a range of invertebrates. Worms, slugs, caterpillars, spiders and woodlice are all among the prey taken. Fast moving, the beetle uses its powerful jaws to catch prey on the ground. The species is capable of flying, but is rarely seen in the air.
No, the Devil's coach horse beetle (Ocypus olens) is not poisonous, but it can give a painful bite with its strong jaws and release a foul-smelling liquid from glands in its abdomen as a defense mechanism, making it seem menacing. It rears its tail and opens its mandibles like a scorpion when threatened but doesn't sting, relying on these deterrents to scare off predators.
Bugs that look like earwigs
Silverfish have more of a shiny, pearl-gray color, and firebrats are grey with a mottled brown appearance, which sets them apart from common earwigs, which are brown, black, or reddish. Silverfish and firebrats are also nocturnal and prefer damp environments, just like earwigs.
The beetle in myth dating back as far as the middle ages is associated with the devil. It was said it has the ability to curse a person by pointing its upraised body/ tail in their direction.
Typically, you can expect to pay around $12,150 for a 1970 Volkswagen Beetle in good condition with average spec. The highest selling price of a 1970 Volkswagen Beetle at auction over the last three years was $42,472.
(חִרגֹּל chargol', q. d. "leaper") occurs only in Le 11:22, where it is mentioned as one of four flying creeping things, that go upon all four, which have legs above their feet to leap withal upon the earth, which the Israelites were permitted to eat.
Pain level 4 is the highest level in the Schmidt sting pain index. Schmidt's original index rated only one such example, the sting of the bullet ant Paraponera clavata, as a 4.
Handling blister beetles can cause blisters on the skin as a reaction to cantharadin. Larval stages feed on grasshopper eggs or are predaceous and are thus considered to be beneficial, although a few species feed in nests of solitary bees.
22 These are the insects you may eat: all kinds of locusts, winged locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers. 23 But all other insects that have wings and walk on four feet you are to hate. 24 Those insects will make you unclean, and anyone who touches the dead body of one of these insects will become unclean until evening.
The Devil's coach horse beetle can be killed with a simple spray or trap.
The sacred scarab or kheper of ancient Egypt was the dung beetle, an insect that lives off the waste of herbivorous animals. It was seen as an incarnation of the sun god Khepri, and its name was part of many royal monikers, including Men-kheper-re and Kheper-ka-re.
What Years of VW Beetle Should You Avoid?
1970 Buick GSX Stage 1 (678 Units) Buick's GSX Stage 1 combined luxury with brute force. Its 455ci V8 (360 HP) utilized a high-compression design and dual exhaust, propelling the car to a 13.4-second quarter-mile. Only 678 units were built, with 178 painted in Apollo White with black stripes.
The Hebmüller Cabriolet, known officially as the Volkswagen Type 14A, is one of the rarest and most coveted Beetle variants. Produced by the German coachbuilder Hebmüller and Sohn, only 696 units were completed due to a factory fire in 1949 that severely disrupted production.
British evolutionary biologist and geneticist J.B.S. Haldane quipped that if a god or divine being had created all living organisms on Earth, then that creator must have an “inordinate fondness for beetles.” Beetles (phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Coleoptera) account for a greater number of species than any ...
Pseudoscorpions are unusual little arachnids. They look something like tiny scorpions but with a rounded hind end. They are completely harmless, common but often overlooked. The tiny pincers of pseudoscorpions contain venom glands that help subdue prey.
The hardest pests to get rid of often include bed bugs, cockroaches, termites, and rodents, due to their resilience, rapid breeding, ability to hide in tiny spaces, and resistance to common treatments, with bed bugs frequently cited as the toughest due to their elusive nature and insecticide resistance. Eliminating these pests usually requires professional help and persistent, integrated strategies like heat treatment, baiting, sanitation, and sealing entry points, notes.
The Devil's Coach-horse can deliver an impressive bite, so best to leave them be! This beetle is common in the UK and is found throughout Europe. It also inhabits parts of Australasia and the Americas; however, it is not native to these areas, having been introduced.
Earwigs are dark with a shiny shell and pincers, while true silverfish are soft, silvery and have three tail bristles. If the insect looks long and narrow like a silverfish but has curved pincers at the back, it is an earwig. Silverfish, firebrats and bristletails all have three thin tail bristles instead of pincers.