Lousy Watchman

This morning I found a beetle on my workbench, quite a big beetle, about an inch in length and very magnificent.  It isn’t alive – I suppose must have been caught by a bird, who either dropped it or decided not to eat it – there are slight crush marks on its black shell, and its underside is punctured too.  Although it appears all black, it does in fact have a vivid blue-green sheen, especially around the edges of its wing cases.

As far as I can tell it is a Dor Beetle – so named because in flight it makes a loud droning noise (dor is an old word for drone).  Dor Beetles usually frequent grazing pastures – where they dig out a nesting tunnel under suitable dung and line the nest with dung for the larvae to feed on. But they are also found in woodland where they use decaying fungi or rotting plants as a breeding habitat.

Oh, and as to ‘Lousy Watchman’, this is a name earned by the beetle due to the large number of mites it carries with it.