Backyard Zoology · 16 December 2020
2020-12-16T18:07:47+11:00
https://www.facebook.com/backyardzoology/posts/pfbid02v73ay631XYeBgdjmVenrneUt4Z6oSLGD1njj4usN5RmN2gvofES5XixB4ttT7xGql

Welcome to a late and if I'm honest, kind of last minute WTF Wednesday or as I like to call it, 'better late than never so no complaining' 😉 Catchy right?

Okay, I'm making this one easy for you. No guessing required but I'm sure there'll be a few of you exclaiming WTF as you scroll through the pics. I didn't even know what species this big arse beetle was until about 20 minutes ago when it was ID'd for me. So these are Bess Beetles and like the Stag Beetles I've been finding, they love rotting wood, which I just happen to have in my yard, courtesy of a very old, very dead tree stump. They grow to about 4cm in length and attract the attention of those not too afraid to tread through the longish grass in the dark - ie me.

Now according to Australian Museum, Australia has around 30 species of these beetles and pretty much all of them have Mites that live on them 😳 Now I'm genuinely unfazed by most nature based things - I mean, I did dissect the stomach of a brush tail possum left behind by the local P'Owl - but these Mites are making me itchy just looking at them. And what's on the Beetles legs? Are they the eggs of the Mites? The larvae? I have zero idea and frankly I kind of don't want to get close enough again to find out! Ewwww. 

In the interest of citizen scienceing and all that, I did pick up one of the beetles and can confirm that they do rub various parts of their body together to make a rasping sound when threatened or as I screamed on the night, "It's HISSING at me!" 😂 After a couple of pics you can rest assured that I hightailed it out of there, literally high stepping for fear that the mites might attach themselves to me as I sprinted back onto the path and to the less scary creatures like the Huntsman and the Orb Weavers.

Bess Beetle with Mites
Northern Illawarra