Blister beetle
| Blister beetle Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Hycleus lugens | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Suborder: | Polyphaga |
| Infraorder: | Cucujiformia |
| Superfamily: | Tenebrionoidea |
| Family: | Meloidae Gyllenhaal, 1810 |
| Subfamilies | |
|
Eleticinae | |
Blister beetles are beetles of the family Meloidae, so called for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin. About 7,500 species are known worldwide. Many are conspicuous and some are aposematically colored, announcing their toxicity to would-be predators.