Little multimedia painting I made when I visited my parents for Christmas and wanted to try out the alchohol inks my mom had! I finished the piece with colored pencil and micron pens. This is based on a photo I took in October! I found 6 big beautiful oil beetle ladies all in the same small area! There was a group of boy scouts looking for animal signs in the park passing by as I took photos and I got to info dump on them a little bit about these incredible insects hehehe and now I'll info dump on you too!

This lady is from genus Meloe! the genus is part of a group called blister beetles and they can secrete hemolymph (blood) from their joints when threatened. Their blood contains a substance unique to them called cantharidin. Cantharidin can cause blisters on the skin in it's natural state. In a synthesized concentrated state it can cause severe chemical burns. It's used in medicine for wart removal and is also sold as the main ingredient in Spanish Fly. The males also give cantharidin extracted from their blood to the females during mating and she coats her eggs in them to protect them. You can tell the sexes apart at a glance because the female has a larger abdomen than the male.