The devil's coach-horse beetle (''Ocypus olens'') is a species of

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

belonging to the large family of the

rove beetle The rove beetles are a family (biology), family (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra (wing covers) that typically leave more than half of their abdominal segments exposed. With over 66,000 species in thousand ...

s (Staphylinidae). It was originally included in the genus '' Staphylinus'' in 1764, and some authors and biologists still use this classification.

Etymology

The Latin species name ''olens'', meaning "smelling", refers to the two white stinking glands on the abdomen. This beetle has been associated with the

Devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, hence its common name, which has been used at least since 1840. Other names include devil's footman, devil's coachman, and devil's steed. It is sometimes also known as the cock-tail beetle for its habit of raising its abdomen. One dictionary suggested that the name developed in parallelism with ''

ladybird Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles. They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in the United Kingdom; "lady" refers to mother Mary. Entomologists use the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles ...

'' and its Norse cognates. In Irish, the beetle is called ' or '. The Irish also called it "the coffin cutter." British folklore has it that a beetle has eaten the core of Eve's apple, and that a person who crushes such a beetle is forgiven seven sins.

Subspecies

Subspecies within this species include: *''O. o. azoricus'' (Méquignon, 1942) *''O. o. olens'' (O. Müller, 1764)

Distribution and habitat

These very common and widespread

s are present in most of Europe and in North Africa. They have also been introduced to parts of the United States and Canada, specifically

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and parts of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. They prefer areas with damp conditions and can be found from April to October in meadows, heath and moorland, woodlands, hedgerows, and parks and gardens. During the day, they commonly stay under logs, stones, or leaf litter.

Description

It is a long-bodied, black beetle. At about , it is one of the larger British beetles. Its wing covers (

elytra An elytron (; ; : elytra, ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometime ...

) are short, covering only its

thorax The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...

, exposing the abdominal segments. The abdominal musculature is powerful and the abdominal segments are covered with sclerotized plates. It is capable of flight, but its wings are rarely used. It is covered with fine, black hairs. It is well known for its habit of raising its long and uncovered abdomen and opening its jaws, rather like a

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

when threatened. Although it has no sting, it can give a painful bite with its strong, pincer-like jaws. It emits a foul-smelling odour, as a defensive secretion, from a pair of white glands at the end of its abdomen.

Biology and diet

It is a predator, hunting mainly by night, feeding on a range of

invertebrates Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum ...

, including

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateria, bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limb (anatomy), limbs, and usually no eyes. Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine ...

s, slugs, spiders, and

woodlice Woodlice are terrestrial isopods in the suborder Oniscidea. Their name is derived from being often found in old wood, and from louse, a parasitic insect, although woodlice are neither parasitic nor insects. Woodlice evolved from marine isopods ...

, as well as

carrion Carrion (), also known as a carcass, is the decaying flesh of dead animals. Overview Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include crows, vultures ...

. The prey is caught in the

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

s, which are also used to cut and together with the front legs to manipulate the food into a bolus. The bolus is repeatedly chewed and swallowed, emerging covered with a brown secretion from the foregut, until it is reduced to a liquid that is digested. Skin in the case of earthworms and hard materials from

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

s are left. The

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e are carnivorous with similar eating habits.

Reproduction

''O. olens'' mates in autumn. Females lay their eggs from 2–3 weeks after first mating. They are large () and white with a darker band and laid singly in damp conditions under moss, stones, cow manure, or leaf litter. After around 30 days, the eggs split and the larvae emerge, white with a straw-coloured head.R. E. Orth, Ian Moore, T. W. Fisher & E. F. Legner. Biological Notes on Ocypus olens, a Predator of Brown Garden Snail, with Descriptions of the Larva and Pupa (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae). — Division of Biological Control, Citrus Research and Agricultural Experiment Station, University of California, Riverside, 1975. — pp. 292—298. The larva lives largely underground, and feeds on similar prey to the adult and has the same well-developed mandibles. It adopts the same display with open jaws and raised tail when threatened. The larva goes through three stages of growth (

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...

s), the final stage ranging from 20 to 26 mm in length. Around 150 days old, the larva pupates for about 35 days and emerges as an adult with its final colouring, fully formed except for the wings, which cannot be folded neatly beneath the elytra for several hours. Adults can survive a second winter, some by hibernating in burrows and not emerging until March, while others remain active.

Gallery

File:Staphylinus olens (=Ocypus) - Larva (2006-04-02).jpg, Larva File:Coach Horse BenPhil.jpg, Threat display File:Staphylinus olens glandulae.jpg, An adult showing the glands that emit a terrible smell. File:Staphylinus.olens.vs.lumbricus.terrestris.jpg, An adult attacking an earthworm File:Schwarzer Moderkäfer Ocypus olens.jpg, Threat display Escarabajo errante (Ocypus olens), Hartelholz, Múnich, Alemania, 2020-06-28, DD 476-494 FS.jpg, Detail, lateral view Escarabajo errante (Ocypus olens), Hartelholz, Múnich, Alemania, 2020-06-28, DD 512-524 FS.jpg, Detail, front view

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q855934 Staphylininae Beetles of Europe Beetles described in 1764 Articles containing video clips Taxa named by Otto Friedrich Müller