#cantharid

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Chauliognathus granulatus Ridiculously orange Soldier Beetle. Perth.

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#158 - Chauliognathus granulatus - Extremely Orange Soldier Beetle

EDIT: Chauliognathus granulatus. IDed by Ken Walker at BowerBird. Apparently the colours are very similar to C. apterus, a species found only on Lord Howe Island. Judging by the name, flightless, a fate that evolution gifts upon many isolated island species.

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By a happy coincidence, I saw another species of soldier beetle this afternoon. I'm pretty sure it's another Chauliognathus, but it's not C. tricolor, despite being of the same dimensions.

Ridiculously orange. The camera doesn't do the demented fluorescent orange of this beetle justice. I don't think I've ever seen another insect go to such extremes of orangeness before. It could be the State Insect of the Netherlands at this rate. Photographed in Success, Perth

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Spanish Fly

Since we're going on about Cantharid Beetles at the moment, some information on the famous aphrodisiac. Of course, if you order some online and use it (and you still can) you're a fucking idiot, and I can only hope your imminent Darwin Award will be some kind of satisfaction.

From the Wiki

The Spanish fly is an emerald-green beetle in the family Meloidae, Lytta vesicatoria. Other species of blister beetle used by apothecaries are often called by the same name. Lytta vesicatoria is sometimes incorrectly called Cantharis vesicatoria, but the genus Cantharis is in an unrelated family, Cantharidae.

Cantharidin (etymology: Greek kantharis, beetle) is a powerful irritant vesicant (blister-inducing) substance obtained from many blister beetles, and sometimes given the nickname "Spanish fly." Cantharidin is claimed to have aphrodisiac properties, as a result of its irritant effects upon the body's genitourinary tract, and can result in poisoning if ingested. Ingestion of blister beetles from infested hay causes similar serious toxic symptoms in animals.

Cantharidin, a terpenoid, is produced by various insect species. The body of the beetle contains up to 5% cantharidin. The crushed powder is of yellowish brown to brown-olive color with iridescent reflections, of disagreeable scent and bitter flavor.

Early uses

Medical use dates back to descriptions from Hippocrates. Plasters made from wings of these beetles have been used to raise blisters. In ancient China, the beetles were mixed with human excrement, arsenic and wolfsbane to make the world's first recorded stink bomb.

Aphrodisiac

Various preparations of desiccated Spanish flies have been used as some of the world's oldest alleged aphrodisiacs, with a reputation dating back to the early western Mediterranean classical civilizations:

In Roman times, Livia, the scheming wife of Augustus Caesar, slipped it into food hoping to inspire her guests to some indiscretion with which she could later blackmail them.

Henry IV (1050–1106) is known to have consumed Spanish fly at the risk of his health.

In 1572, Ambroise Paré wrote an account of a man suffering from "the most frightful satyriasis" after taking a potion composed of nettles and cantharides.

In the 1670s, Spanish fly was mixed with dried moles and bat's blood for a love charm made by the magician La Voisin.

It was slipped into the food of Louis XIV to secure the king's lust for Madame de Montespan.

In the 18th century, cantharides became fashionable, known as pastilles Richelieu in France.

The Marquis de Sade is claimed to have given aniseed-flavored pastilles that were laced with Spanish fly to prostitutes at an orgy in 1772. He was sentenced to death for poisoning and sodomy, but later reprieved on appeal.

Miscellaneous uses

In medicine, cantharidin is used as a topical application for treatment of benign epithelial growths including most warts. In Santería, catharides are used in incense.

Cantharide was used as an abortifacient, a stimulant (since one of its effects was producing insomnia and nervous agitation), and as a poison.

Spanish Fly is used by many people as an Aphrodisiac although now produced in the laboratory under safe, strict conditions and without the use of Cantharadin the poisonous and lethal toxic used in old remedies from many years ago. In moderate doses, Spanish fly produces irritation of the genitals and a resulting increase in blood flow to the area, mimicking the engorgement that occurs with sexual excitement. However, cantharadin is extremely toxic when ingested, causing serious gastrointestinal distress and kidney damage.

Poison

In powder, mixed with the food, cantharide could go unnoticed. Aqua toffana, or aquetta di Napoli, was one of the poisons associated with the Medicis. Thought to be a mixture of arsenic and cantharides, it was reportedly created by an Italian countess, Toffana. Four to six drops of this poison in water or wine was enough to deliver death in a few hours.

In order to determine if a death had taken place by the effects of Spanish fly, investigators resorted to the vesicación test. One of those test methods consisted of rubbing part of the internal organs of the deceased, dissolved in oil, on the shaved skin of a rabbit; the absorption of the cantharides and its blistering effect are such that they became visible on the skin of the rabbit.

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#156 - Tricolor Soldier Beetle

Chauliognathus tricolor. Slightly smaller  than the Plague varieties.