oil beetle

American  

noun

1. any of several blister beetles of the genus Meloe that exude an oily fluid from the joints of their legs when disturbed.

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oil beetle British  

noun

1. any of various beetles of the family Meloidae that exude an oily evil-smelling blood from their joints, which deters enemies

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Etymology

Origin of oil beetle

First recorded in 1650–60

Example Sentences

Other rare insects that benefitted from the restoration project were the rugged oil beetle, rock-rose pot beetle, shrill carder bumblebee, downland villa and spotted beeflies.

From BBC • Aug. 25, 2022

In "Mammas," Rossellini dresses as a mother spider, wasp, hamster, toad, cuckoo, dunnock, oil beetle, piping plover and cichlid fish to show how each brings her young into the world.

From Seattle Times • May 7, 2013

Some of them provide me with the oil beetle and the Sitaris, rare finds at one time, today of no use to me.

From The Life of the fly; with which are interspersed some chapters of autobiography by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander

Then there is that queer blue oil beetle, with his queerer history; that slender-waisted wasp that digs its deep hole in the dirt, and those round holes in the path, with their mysterious hocus-pocus.

From Eye Spy Afield with Nature Among Flowers and Animate Things by Gibson, W. Hamilton (William Hamilton)