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Project Noah Nature School
Meloe violaceus
These beetles are blackish-violet, with elytra shorter than the abdomen. Here, female, about 30mm in length and easily recognizable by it's hypertrophied abdomen. Males are smaller, about 1cm in length.
Found in a lowland forest on banks of Rhone river.
There is interesting story about these - their larvae have an exclusively parasitic life (very much like cuckoo) in the nests of solitary bees. Once in the nest of a solitary bee, the larva of the violet oil beetle would eat the eggs of the bee, and take it's place and continues developing eating honey and pollen.
Spotted on Apr 10, 2023
Submitted on Jun 19, 2023
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