Thick-legged flower beetle on ragwort
Dear Readers, I hope you will not mind that, for the second week in a row, I am featuring insects as the subject for the quiz – I am called ‘Bugwoman’ after all! The quote in the title comes from the British evolutionary biologist J.B.S Haldane, who said;
“If one could conclude as to the nature of the Creator from a study of creation it would appear that God has an inordinate fondness for stars and beetles.”
There are over 400,000 species of beetle that we know about, and they constitute 25% of all known animal life-forms, so it seemed appropriate that they should have a moment in the spotlight. In the quiz below, I’ve tried to choose beetles whose names and body-shape might give you a clue: they are all from the UK, but I’m sure that wherever you are in the world you might have something similar. Anyhoo, have a go!
Beetles
Match the photo to the name. So, if you think photo 1) is a Rosemary beetle, your answer is 1)a).
Good luck!
a) Rosemary beetle (Chrysolina americana)
b) Rose Chafer (Cetonia aurata)
c) Bloody-nosed beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa)
d) Green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela campestris)
e) Golden-bloomed grey longhorn beetle (Agapanthia villosoviridescens)
f) Thistle tortoise beetle (Cassida rubiginosa)
g) Vine weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatus)
h) Click beetle (Athous haemorrhoidalis)
i) 16-spot orange ladybird ( Halyzia 16-guttata)
j) Lily beetle (Lilioceris lilii)
k) Sexton beetle (Nicrophorus vespillo)
l) Devil’s coach-horse (Staphylinus olens)
m) Harlequin ladybird ( Harmonia axyridis)
n) Stag Beetle (Lucanus cervus)
o) Cockchafer/May bug ( Melolontha melolontha)
Answers will be published on Tuesday, so if you want to be ‘marked’, put your answer in the comments by 5 p.m. UK time on Monday. If you don’t want to be influenced by people who’ve answered before you, I suggest you do that old-school thing and write your responses down first :-). And even if you don’t feel confident to ‘go public’, have a go! You might be surprised by what you already know.
Onwards!
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)
1d; 2n; 3j; 4a; 5l; 6i; 7c;8h; 9b; 10m; 11k; 12g; 13f; 14o; 15e
An interesting process of elimination: we have stag beetles and weevils – the ladybirds got me though.
Beetles are really quite beautiful if we can get over our revulsion of insects – I was thrilled to come across a sexton beetle once – beside the body of a mole, there were two of them who fought each other, then one was chased off and the other started burying – I didn’t know what it was at the time or I would have stayed and watched.
More than 50% guesswork: a7,b11,c4,d1,e15,f13,g12,h9,i6,j3,k8,l5,m10,n2,o14
🙁 … on review would like to change mine to the same as Anne’s
Quite a few guesses but also nice to see how many I know – I hope anyway!
1d, 2n, 3j, 4a, 5l, 6i, 7c, 8h, 9b, 10m, 11k, 12g, 13f, 14o, 15e
We nearly missed the quiz, we’ve been away.
a, 4
b, 9
c, 7
d, 1
e, 15
f, 13
g, 12
h, 8
i, 10
j, 3
k, 11
l, 5
m, 6
n, 2
o, 14