Strange beast

[mbc]

Who's this fella please?

 

[JamezF]

I think it's an oil beetle of some sort.

James

 

[Wilco]

Agree with James but never heard of them before.

Apparently quite rare.

https://www.coleoptera.org.uk/meloidae/home

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It's a Bechingalw

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Agree with James but never heard of them before.

Apparently quite rare.

https://www.coleoptera.org.uk/meloidae/home

loads around this year apparently - or in the Margam/Port Talbot area anyway

 

[blackcloud]

Werewolf.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Can that thing actually fly?

 

[blackcloud]

No that's vampires

 

[Ian123]

Looks like the head of a big bull ant!
Pretty cool find.

 

[Ian123]

It's a Bechingalw

What’s that in English?

 

[Erichalfbee]

What’s that in English?

A Thingummy

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

What’s that in English?

a watchamacallit

 

[mbc]

Google says its a iridescent blue beetle

 

[Antipodes]

I think it's an oil beetle of some sort.

James

Black rather than violet perhaps...lower thorax not indented or sharp toothed?
https://cdn.buglife.org.uk/2019/08/Oil-Beetle-national-survey-leaflet-for-web_5-species.pdf

 

[oxnatbees]

Buglife would be interested in this, they are trying to map this rare beetle:

https://www.buglife.org.uk/scottish-oil-beetle-search/

 

[Erichalfbee]

Interesting life cycle

Oil beetles have an amazing life cycle, intricately linked to that of solitary bees. After hatching, oil beetle larvae (known as triungulins) make their way onto a flower head where they lie in wait for a solitary bee. Using specialised hooks on their feet, they attach themselves to the back of a visiting female bee and when the bee returns to its underground nest, the triungulin disembarks and continues its development underground, eating through the bee’s stores of pollen and nectar. The following year, it emerges as an adult oil beetle ready to start the life cycle all over again.

 

[plain_hunt]

I did have some oil beetles around my apiary a few years ago, but I haven’t seen them recently. Shame, they’re quite striking. Also means there are solitary bees around.

 

[Ron Birrell]

I agree with James. It's a Black Oil Beetle. Meloe proscarabaeus.