Posted on 08/12/2021 6:51:01 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
There are thousands of different kinds of beetles in Maine. But only one — the blister beetle — produces a toxic chemical that causes skin blisters if touched, is fatal to livestock, was once a common treatment for warts and gave us the term “Spanish Fly” for aphrodisiacs.
“The big story with them is they do release a fatty material from the joints of their legs that is very toxic and causes severe blistering.”
That fatty material is the chemical cantharidin. In addition to causing irritating skin blisters, it can be fatal if swallowed as it will form blisters inside the body. This is particularly concerning when it comes to livestock.
All it takes is four to six grams of blister beetles to quickly kill an 1,100-pound horse, even if the horse only eats parts of the blister beetles.
“You can imagine if a horse is grazing on feed that has lupine growing in it,” Dill said. “All of a sudden there is a lupine with 10 or 15 blister beetles on it and the horse munches it down — it can be really bad.”
...as recently as 1996 four young men were treated in Pennsylvania after drinking Kool-Aid they had laced with cantharidin. They had planned to give the concoction to a woman one of them was dating.
...Burying them is key because even in death, blister beetles retain the toxin in their corpses.
(Excerpt) Read more at bangordailynews.com ...
Better wear a space suit.
Does Fauci hold any patents on the beetles?
Well, that does it. I won’t take my horse to Maine this summer for vacation.;-)
Release them in congress.
Best comment this week. Two thumbs up!
And make it pay per view to help pay off our frickin debt.
The poor beetle won’t stand a chance among that bunch. Mam eating sharks and woman eating sharks also avoid them out of fear of getting indestigestion .
Among other places.
These beetles are ubiquitous in the SE US. I attended several horses that ate the beetles in hay and the outcome was not positive.
—”Release them in congress.”
Not sure it will have any effect?
Congress is chock-full of dung beetles.
Yes, I know that real dung beetles serve a useful purpose in the ecosystem, unlike congress.
:’(
I've been blistered by them. They create huge water blisters, but the blisters are (or were in my case) painless and do no permanent harm. I wouldn't go out of my way to catch one, but they're hardly anything to be terrified of.
I was shocked when I read they can kill a horse, but apparently this is only by ingestion. I had the impression if a horse touched one it was dead.
__” won’t take my horse to Maine this summer for vacation”
Not to worry.
Simply double up on the mask for your horse.
“four young men were treated in Pennsylvania after drinking Kool-Aid they had laced with cantharidin. They had planned to give the concoction to a woman one of them was dating.”
Instant karma’s gonna get you...
I think the device used on the Romulan senate in Star Trek Nemesis (a mediocre Star Trek movie) should suffice.
Bill Cosby? Is that you?
—” but apparently this is only by ingestion”
I would not want to jump the gun on this one.
Probably best to wait for an “official government scientist”?
An edict from the CDC would be best.
But the tomato in my garden should be safe?
Tomato leaves might even slow the beetles down?
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