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Violin Beetle

rare

Violin Beetle

Mormolyce phyllodes

Habitat
Southeast Asian rainforest floors, wedged under the loose bark of dead trees
Body length
100 mm
Order
Coleoptera · Carabidae

Weird but real

Its body is squashed paper-flat so it can slide into bracket-fungus gills and bark cracks, and it sprays stinging acid if cornered.

Why it's cool

A ground beetle ironed into the silhouette of a violin, then handed a chemical squirt gun. Peak insect over-engineering.

Photographs

Mormolyce phyllodes, gunung mulu national park, sarawak, malaysia 1
Alan Cressler from Decatur, Georgia, USA · CC BY 2.0 · source
Mormolyce phyllodes
Anaxibia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source