Cornered, it curls its abdomen vertically over its back like a scorpion and gapes its jaws, then releases a foul smell from white tail glands
Devil's coach horse — the bluff is scorpion mimicry; it has no sting.
Nature · Insects & other invertebrates
Devil's coach horse
Adults chiefly April–October · 20–32 mm
Ocypus olens — Staphylinidae (rove beetles)
A long, all-black, nocturnal beetle that turns up under stones and flowerpots and, when cornered, curls its abdomen up over its back like a scorpion, gapes its jaws and squirts a foul smell from glands at the tail. It is a rove beetle: its wing cases are cut short, so most of the flexible abdomen is bare — which is why it does not look like a beetle at first glance, though full flight wings are folded beneath those short cases. Folklore made it the devil's own animal, able to curse anyone it pointed its tail at.
How to spot them
- ▸Entirely matt black, long and narrow, 20–32 mm, with very short wing cases leaving the abdomen exposed
- ▸When threatened it raises the abdomen vertically over its back, scorpion-fashion, and opens its large jaws
- ▸Releases a foul smell from two white glands at the tip of the abdomen
- ▸Runs fast on the ground at night; found under stones, logs, pots and compost
- ▸Bites — the jaws are used on earthworms, slugs and other invertebrates and can nip a finger
How to know it
Its wing cases are cut so short that most of the abdomen is bare, though full flight wings are folded beneath them
Devil's coach horse — the largest common British rove beetle, family Staphylinidae.
Folklore held that this all-black beetle could curse you by pointing its raised tail at you, and gave it its diabolical English name
Devil's coach horse, also known in Ireland as the devil's coach-horse or darbhadaol.
Its specific epithet is the Latin for 'smelling' or 'stinking'
Devil's coach horse — Ocypus olens; the genus name means 'swift-footed'.
A nocturnal ground hunter of slugs, worms and other invertebrates, welcome to gardeners
Devil's coach horse — a beneficial garden predator despite its reputation.
An older English name, from the raised tail, is 'cocktail'
Devil's coach horse — the cocktail beetle.
Quick-fire facts
- •Ocypus olens: Ocypus from Greek for 'swift-footed', olens Latin for 'smelling'
- •It belongs to the Staphylinidae, the rove beetles — the largest family of beetles, with over a thousand British species
- •The short elytra are diagnostic of rove beetles; the membranous flight wings are folded up beneath them
- •The scorpion posture is a bluff: the beetle has no sting, but it can bite and it discharges a foul-smelling secretion from abdominal glands
- •It hunts at night on the ground, taking slugs, earthworms, woodlice and insect larvae; it is a useful garden predator
- •British folklore associated it with the devil and with Satan in beetle form; crushing one was said to forgive sins
- •The old name 'cocktail' comes from the cocked-up tail
- •It is widespread and common throughout Britain and Ireland, and has been introduced to North America and Australia
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- Biological Records Centre and the UK beetle recording schemes — UK Beetle Recording
- Michael Chinery — Collins Complete Guide to British Insects