An ordinary T-shirt is a bug whose name is often confused with a completely different insect. Of course, we are talking about the May bug. These are completely different species. However, the T-shirt beetle, the photo of which is presented in each entomological reference book, is a very distant relative of the famous spring insect.
What is this insect?
This is a bug that cannot fly. The insect is devoid of wings. Elytra shortened, located close to the base, and slightly spread out posteriorly to the sides. An ordinary T-shirt is a beetle of black or blue-dark color, almost azure individuals are also found. Regardless of color, the body of the beetle has a pronounced metallic tint. Looking at them gives the impression that their body is made of metal and painted with enamel.
According to the entomological classification, they belong to arthropods, are representatives of beetles, and are part of the family of pliers.
What are these bugs like?
There are three types of shirts:
- plain or black;
- Violet
- motley or, as it is also called, beautiful.
All these insects are small in size, lead a similar lifestyle and differ mainly in color only.
How big are these insects?
The T-shirt beetle, whose photo you can see in the article, is very small. The length of its body varies from 15 to 40 millimeters.
Females are larger. They are easy to distinguish not only in length, but also in the shape of the abdomen. In females, it is extremely swollen, disproportionate to the body large and bulging. Males are much neater and more aesthetically pleasing in appearance, but also smaller, by at least a third.
How long do these insects live?
Beetle T-shirt lives very little. The term of their life is until the reproduction of offspring. The male dies immediately after mating. The female dies after laying eggs.
The female of this insect manages to lay from a couple to ten thousand eggs. She carries out laying in peculiar nests. These are not very deep holes, leaving into the soil by 25-30 millimeters. She makes masonry in the form of a heap and sprinkles it with earth. The female of this beetle is never taken to equip a new nest without being convinced of the complete completeness of the previous one.
How do these insects live?
T-shirt beetle cannot boast of an interesting way of life. Insects of this species feed on plants or the remains of other living organisms, and can lead a parasitic lifestyle. Larvae are released from eggs after 28-40 days from the day of laying. Egg ripening time depends on soil temperature. The higher it is, the faster a new generation of beetles appears.
At the larval stage, the beetle t-shirt loves to parasitize inside bee hives. T-shirts in the larval stage are prone to travel. They crawl on flowers, grass, shoots of bushes. They cling to bees and bumblebees, moving with them both in their hives, and simply for significant distances.
What is curious, until the moment of mating, the beetle of the T-shirt does not die. That is, being alone, away from its relatives, the insect lives for a longer time.
Are these insects dangerous?
The ordinary shirt is poisonous. At the slightest danger to itself, the insect gives off an oily, viscous liquid. These secretions contain cantharidin, an organic non-protein poison.
In addition to shirts, the carrier of this toxic substance are:
- barbel - red-breasted puffer, carpenter, Ussuri relic;
- Spanish fly;
- other bugs of the bark family.
On average, the body of an insect contains up to five percent of pure cantharidin in its total biochemical composition. This substance is quite dangerous. When taken orally for a fatal outcome, a person needs from 40 to 80 micrograms of pure cantharidin per kilogram of weight. This variation is due to the varying degrees of susceptibility of the human body to the toxin.
How does the toxin work?
Beetle categorically can not be picked up. As soon as he senses a change in his usual environment, he will immediately release a toxic liquid. Once on the skin, the poison instantly penetrates the pore and a blister forms almost instantly.
Common symptoms of skin lesions with beetle toxin are as follows:
- redness;
- burning and pain;
- blisters merging into one big bubble.
In general, signs of exposure to T-shirt toxin resemble a burn.
