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[home]B) Decaying vegetation
In the wild, Eleodes commonly eat decaying vegetation such as dead leaves and rotting wood, fulfilling their vital ecological role as dutiful decomposers. They will also eat fungus and low-growing desert plants. These beetles are common in many environments, but they are especially adapted to arid regions. In the desert, survival through adaptation revolves around water and temperature. Eleodes do not need to drink water as they get water from the food they consume, plus their wings are fused, rendering them a flightless beetle but also preventing water loss. One would think that their black coloration goes against all natural laws of surviving the heat of the desert, however their black bodies help them survive those temperature dropping nights by absorbing solar radiation during the day, ideal for maintaining heat throughout the night.
But let's face it, most of us are guilty of gently harassing the poor Eleodes beetle (and we're not condoning that) just to get a rise out of them. What you are witnessing is an evolutionary perfected defense against predators like birds, reptiles, and amphibians, not to mention curious coyotes and bothersome naturalists. When threatened, members of the genus Eleodes will stand on it's head and elevate it's rear end. Be warned. If the predator moves in, the beetle emits a foul-smelling, black fluid produced by glands at the tip of its abdomen, which usually drives away the threat. Unless you're a grasshopper mouse and you've countered by flipping Eleodes beetles upside, sticking their threatening end in the sand and eating them head first...
Photo: sasionline.org/arthzoo/ Photo: DesertUSA
Photographer: unknown
