News Life

Fecal architecture is beetle armor

Predators have a hard time getting through the layers of excrement some beetle moms give their young

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

Case-bearing leaf beetles get crap from their moms, and it’s a good thing they do.

CAREFUL MOM A female case-bearing beetle hangs onto a leaf and carefully excretes flattened plates of feces that she presses in rows around each reddish egg to form a case.