Fire-coloured beetle
The fire-coloured beetle has a black head and black wing cases, with a reddish brown middle and legs. Its feelers look like little combs. Its larvae are winter champions: they can survive being frozen solid.
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Fun facts
Its larvae can survive with ice inside their bodies at minus 26 degrees.
It was the first animal found to switch between two different tricks for surviving the cold.
Before winter its larvae make their own antifreeze, a bit like the liquid that stops a car from freezing.
The male's huge eyes touch each other on top of its head.
The grown-up beetles come out at night and are drawn to lights.
Most asked questions about Fire-coloured beetle
?What does a fire-coloured beetle look like?
It has a black head and wing cases, a reddish brown middle and legs, and comb-like feelers.
?How do fire-coloured beetle larvae survive winter?
They empty their tummies and make special antifreeze, and they can even live with ice in their bodies.
?Is the fire-coloured beetle dangerous?
No. It is a harmless beetle.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Dendroides canadensis
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Pyrochroidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Pyrochroidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Fire-colored beetle
Where the facts come from
- Dendroides canadensis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Jacy Lucier. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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