The Beetle
Lytta vesicatoria is 15 millimetres (0.59 in) to 22 millimetres (0.87 in) long and 5 millimetres (0.20 in) to 8 millimetres (0.31 in) wide. Adult beetles feed on leaves of ash, lilac, amur privet and white willow trees; larvae are parasitic on the brood of ground nesting bees. The beetle lives in scrublands and woods throughout southern Europe and eastward to Central Asia and Siberia.
Read more about this topic: Spanish Fly
Famous quotes containing the word beetle:
“After the planet becomes theirs, many millions of years will have to pass before a beetle particularly loved by God, at the end of its calculations will find written on a sheet of paper in letters of fire that energy is equal to the mass multiplied by the square of the velocity of light. The new kings of the world will live tranquilly for a long time, confining themselves to devouring each other and being parasites among each other on a cottage industry scale.”
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)
“Ere the bat hath flown
His cloistered flight, ere to black Hecate’s summons
The shard-born beetle with his drowsy hums
Hath rung night’s yawning peal, there shall be done
A deed of dreadful note.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)