Another example of a highly sophisticated member of the Coleoptera eco-chain in our majestic natural world - the Bombardier beetle.
Beetles are insects and form the collective order known as Coleoptera, [derived from the Greek words koleon (sheath) and pteron (wing)] they reside within the superorder Endopterygota. The Coleoptera, contains around 400,000 catalogued species, new species are regularly discovered and the estimated number of species is probably well over a million. This is the largest of all the collective orders, comprising almost 40% of all catalogued insects and 25% of all known animal species. Beetles have been prominent in human culture for at least 5 millennia, taking the sacred scarabs of ancient Egypt as a prime example.
Bombardier beetles are ground beetles (Carabidae) in the tribes Brachinini, Paussini, Ozaenini, or Metriini, a collective that encompasses more than 500 species altogether.
They are most notable for what is a highly developed defence mechanism from which their name originated. When disturbed by a deemed aggressor, they release a searing toxic chemical spray from the tip of the abdomen with a popping sound.
Analysis of this advanced noxious spray, determines that is produced by a reaction between two hypergolic chemical compounds, hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide, stored in two reservoirs in the beetle's abdomen. When the aqueous solution of hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide reaches the "vestibule" (a term coined by Thomas Eisner a German-American entomologist and ecologist, known as the "father of chemical ecology."), complex catalysts facilitate the decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide and the oxidation of the hydroquinone. Heat generated by this reaction brings the mixture close to the boiling point of water and produces a gas that propels the release. The resultant damage caused to attacking insects can often be fatal . Some species of bombardier beetles can direct the spray at targets coming from a wide in a wide spread of directions.
The Bombardier beetle is found on all the continents in the world except Antarctica, a fundamental brick in the eco-system, they are carnivorous including larvae. Typical habitats are woodlands or grasslands in more temperate zones, but may also be found in other environments where there are moist places in which to lay their eggs.
The beetle's extraordinary defence mechanism is claimed by some neo-creationists of the intelligent design movement to be an example of what they call irreducible complexity which is refuted by evolutionary biologists.
Irreducible complexity (IC) embraces the argument that as any number of biological systems composed of multiple interacting parts would fail to function if one of the parts were removed, then evolution as as result of successive small modifications to earlier less complex systems through natural selection is neither practical nor feasible. Presenting an alternative explanation that complex biological systems are in fact a "purposeful arrangement of parts" that infers design by a creative intelligence present in all life forms on Earth governed by a higher plane of ‘natural’ consciousness, a resource, from which we as humans have become increasingly disconnected as millennia have unfolded. Our increasing lack of connectivity with spirituality and the natural world around us has denuded our understanding of the networks of intelligence that pervade the functionality of that natural world.
The intelligent design movement is a neo-creationist campaign for broad social, academic and political change and stimulates support for the quasi-scientific idea of intelligent design (ID), which argues that "certain features of the universe and of living things are better explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."
The ID movement goal is to diminish and ultimately change the prevailing materialistic world view. To this end, advocates of intelligent design adopt a two-path approach. In tandem with the promotion of intelligent design, exponent groups also contest the traditional theory of evolution by highlighting perceived flaws in the theory itself. They disagree with many views held within the scientific community and encourage tutors and students to explore non-scientific alternatives to evolution, or at least to critically analyse evolution and what they refer to as ‘The Controversy’ surrounding the teaching of evolution.
So what are your thoughts on the Bombardier Beetle, a natural defence engineer and beneficiary of the inherent creative intelligence resident in all creatures from across the universe or a mere soldier of fortune mysteriously blessed by multiple stages of selective evolution to address changing environment and existential threats??
