Subject: Beetle metamorphosis

From: [email-masked] (Daniel Juhlin)
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 1995 23:47:42

My wife was describing a beetle to me that she had read about.  It seems that 
this particular species, which spends its life under water, attaches itself to 
a fixed surface prior to dying.  After a period of time after death, the 
carcass splits open and "something" (she couldn't recall with any more 
specificity than that) comes out and flies away.  She also doesn't recall the 
name of this beetle or the source of the information.  Assuming that perhaps 
the "fly away" was a moth or butterfly, I told her I would put the question to 
this group.  We would appreciate any light that anyone might shed on this 
mystery.  Thank you!

Dan Juhlin
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] ("Colin Cracknell")
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 1995 17:05:38 GMT

It sounds like a dragonfly to me. Of course your "dieing" is really 
pupation.

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[email-masked] | "Specialisation is for insects" [RAH]
                           | "I specialise in insects" [ColinC]
All opinions are my own, but Darter Systems agrees with me.
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From: [email-masked] (TLROSFE)
Date: 17 Jan 1995 23:44:21 -0500

I believe what you saw was not a " reincarnation " , but a metamorphosis
of sorts . You probably saw the new fully developed adult beetle shedding
it's old exoskeleton and flying away to breed . I hope this helps , and
the beetle you saw was probably Dysticus marginalis , or another Dysticus
species .

                                                                      Jack
Rosfeld
                                                                        
14 yrs old