Image: Blister beetle (26390828032)
Description: Hycleus sp., Family: Meloidae Blister beetles are beetles of the family Meloidae, so called for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin. About 7,500 species are known worldwide. Many are conspicuous and some are aposematically colored, announcing their toxicity to would-be predators. Cantharidin is a poisonous chemical that causes blistering of the skin. It is used medically to remove warts and is collected for this purpose from species of the genera Mylabris.
Title: Blister beetle (26390828032)
Credit: Blister beetle
Author: arian.suresh from Chennai, India
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
License: CC BY 2.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes
Image usage
The following page links to this image:
.jpg){kind=link}