I found this little guy as we were parking the car on Saturday. Herself being disorganised enough to still have a camera in her Capacious Handbag clever enough to bring a camera, I insisted on getting a few shots done.
There’s his topside, and
here’s down-under.
According to the wise people at CSIRO, our find is a member of the species cybister tripunctatus. As far as size goes, our critter is about 1.5 inches long.
Here’s the critter in action, courtesy of Lambert Smith and http://www.insecta.co.za. Apparently ol’ tripunctatus is found throughout Asia and in Africa, as well as Mexico and who-knows-where else.
My Nature-loving Reader will probably agree: these streamlined sports models are cool!
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May 12th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I love that these guys are “BYO Air” too, super cool!
May 12th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Those are edible! IIRC, you eat them much like crabs.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Yes, I found a comment about eating ‘em in Korea when I was researching. I also found an entry about them releasing some pregnane-derivative hormone which made predatory fishes go all (Homer-style) “AGLAGLAGLAGLAUAGH!” and so not eat the beetle. I think it mentioned making reptiles who ingested them lose their lunches.
Ahh, that’s it! http://preview.tinyurl.com/5e4mn4 for brevity’s sake! The original search line blew my right margin into your local district, because my workstation faces West.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Yes, yes, they are cool. Was it out of the water when you found it? We have a different species here that’s not quite as big
I’m not planning on eating them!
May 13th, 2008 at 12:34 am
Yes, Chris, the beetle was out of the water. Poor thing was dead, and may have fallen after flying round a streetlight judging from where I found it.
I’ve seen them in action in the swimming pool of a rental house I once shared (none of us swam in the pool, so it just turned into this big pond-full of creepy things). They’re beautiful to watch in action.
As far as eating them… no thanks for me too. I’ve tried a few exotic foods like fried grasshoppers, chocolate coated ants and so forth (Mum trying to gross me out when she worked at a fancy food store), but the idea of that pregnane-type chemical is a big turn-off. I think they’re possibly treff for observant Jewish diet-keepers.
Anyway, give me a few minutes and I’ll post a spider to take care of the beetle!
May 14th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I wonder if the pregnane is affected by heat– otherwise, why would people eat them? Or maybe it doesn’t affect mammals?
May 14th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I’m not certain about the pregnane derivatives.
Remembering that, as with fugu, a little bit of a Bad Thing is not necessarily serious, it may even be that the hormone’s effect is pleasant (within certain broad limits of defining “pleasant”) in the form ingested.
“Anyway, I don’t want the tongue sandwich: that’s been in an animal’s mouth!” roared O’Leary as he sat down to his customary egg and toast.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Ah, see, James and I are fascinated by odd foods and will try pretty much anything.
Besides, insects are more economically viable than cows. ;-)
May 14th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
The O’Leary thing? Just a joke.
I’m amazed at the variety of things that can be done to extract tucker from the soy bean, for example: tofu, natto, shoyu and so forth.
There was also the Incident At The Church Camp (where I really didn’t want to be), when ten-year-old me discovered that Christmas beetles can be prepared as a nutty, crunchy snack which totally grosses out exactly the people one hopes will be grossed-out.
Grasshoppers? Very sardine-ish when packed in oil, but I blame the oil.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I’m not big on soy products. The amount of phyto-estrogens worries me.
OMG! You didn’t!
I think I’d like to try grasshoppers freshly stirfried.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Tofu tonight - it’s about a once-a-month thing. My wizardry with sesame oil, peppers and (these days) weighing all the food exactly plus watching the approved list of Caityfoods, will all be brought to bear.
As far as hoppers, I know some of the little b@st@rds have eaten well over the summer, as my tomato and pepper plants will testify. Probably, as with yabbies, the taste is dependent on diet and making sure they’re not too full of muck at time of preparation.
Life is too short to fillet a grasshopper.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Mm. Maybe I should try tofu marinated sometime. I’m fond of inari, though, so that probably counts as my once a month thing. ;-)
Heh. I can imagine trying to do that.
May 19th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
he he he… I actually had to go look to see what the Kosher rules were about eating insects. Interestingly enough, at some point some flying insects were ok to eat.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Of course, Locusts! Duh, not like me to forget a detail.