Bombardier beetles are remarkable creatures, truly deserving the attention they have received. Ground beetles are not harmful to humans. Do Not Mess with a Bombardier Beetle! Just make sure you wash your hands after you touch a beetle. When alarmed or threatened, these beetles can set off a small chemical explosion which shoots out from their abdomen. Despite searching for years, I have yet to find larvae of bombardier beetles, and my attempts to obtain larvae from captive adults has failed so far. There is also something called a whiplash rove beetle (Staphylinidae) that causes dermatitis and blistering. About 48 species of bombardier beetles inhabit North America, mainly in the south. The bombardier beetle's defensive mechanisms have started many debates between creationists and evolutionists. When the Bombardier Beetle is threatened it uses chemical reaction inside its abdomen to … Bombardier beetles (Brachinus spp.) Dear unhappy hostess, As unwanted visitors go, you could do much worse than this False Bombardier Beetle.. They can be found in woodlands, backyards, and moist areas. No , a Bess beetles bite is not dangerous. The bombardier beetle is a member of the family Carabidae, which contains more than 40,000 species worldwide. You can find the nocturnal beetles living along muddy edges of lakes and rivers, often hiding in debris. While most parasitoid insects are wasps and flies, in beetles this way of life is relatively uncommon, with only a handful of beetle families exhibiting a parasitoid life history. ... did I come to realise how truly dangerous this situation could have been. The bombardier beetle (Carabidae) can spray a mixture of chemicals out of its back end that reach temperatures up to 100 degrees C. They only do this when threatened. Today I want to write about a cool looking beetle that you don't want to mess with, the Australian bombardier beetle. It produces boiling hot toxic liquid that, while non-toxic to humans, can irritate and burn the skin, causing it to feel like a bite or sting. Beetles make up about 25% of all animal species, with approximately 400,000 different kinds identified by scientists and more being discovered all the time. This halloween-colored insect is a False Bombardier Beetle (Galerita bicolor), there are two similar species within this genus, the other is G. janus and the only real way to tell them apart is the shape of the head and pronotum (thorax area).Based on the info provided by bugguide.net I am going with G. bicolor on this one....but it is difficult to tell with such subtle difference separating them. The chemicals used to make the acid are very dangerous. Their explosive defence mechanism can kill other insects and scare off larger predators.