God has an Enemy - Cremastocheilus BeetleWritten by Ron McCluskey
God has an enemy - Cremastocheilus Beetle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Americas a little brown or black beetle lives that most of us would not even notice. In fact, most of you would probably just step on it if you came across it. But, this little beetle has a fascinating story. This beetle happens to be a parasite. We usually think of a parasite as something that lives in or on us and makes us sick or itch. But this beetle is a parasite on ants! Its name is Cremastocheilus (Kree-mast-oh-kyle'-us), sometimes called anteater scarab and is nothing special to look at. But, it has an incredible ability. It is able to change way it smells. If you are familiar with ants, then you know that they are able to recognize others in their colonies with their marvelous sense of smell. They cannot do it by sight, because they cannot see very well. In fact, some ants are totally blind. So, when two ants meet, they will stroke other ant with their antennae collecting minute amounts of chemicals in special receptors that allow them to identify if other ant is friend or foe. Incredibly, Cremastocheilus beetle can change way it smells. When it is time for female beetle to lay her eggs, she will go to an ant nest and walk up to entrance. She then changes way she smells so that ants will think that she is an ant from that colony. Once she has passed guards, she makes her way down into ant nest and finds nursery. She then lays her eggs in with ant eggs. When baby beetle hatches, it smells like a baby ant. But, it does not eat what baby ants eat. It eats baby ants! The ants take care of it anyway, because to them it smells right. When baby beetle gets big enough, it will pupate and then become an adult. As an adult, it leaves ant nest to find another adult beetle to mate with. The female will then find another ant nest and start cycle over again.
| | God has a GREAT Imagination - BeetlesWritten by Ron McCluskey
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tracking God News Looking for character and personality of God in His creation. Issue # 1 Editor: Ron McCluskey mailto:editor@trackinggod.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to TRACKING GOD NEWS You are receiving this ezine because you or someone else requested a subscription at this address. To be removed from our mailing list, please see unsubscribe instructions at end of this newsletter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IN THIS ISSUE Sponsorship Advertisement God has a GREAT Imagination Short Tip #1 Feature Advertisement God's imagination in Bible Short tip #2 or entertainment break Product Review From our Readers Classified Advertising Contact Information OUR SPONSOR FOR THIS ISSUE IS (insert sponsor name here) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Replace this text with your sponsor ad.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tracking God's Imagination ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A famous entomologist was once asked what he had learned from his lifelong study of insects. He replied, "God has an inordinate fondness for beetles." That would seem to be true, because at last count, scientists have named over 400,000 species of them. To give you an idea of how many that is, there are about 15,000 species of birds in world. In fact, if you lined up all species of life including bacteria, plants, animals, worms and insects every fifth one would be a beetle! If we were to try to come up with designs for different types of beetles, most of us could come up with 25 different designs. Some of us could probably figure out a few hundred. But, can you imagine type of intelligence that it takes to design over 400,000 variations on a theme? And each of them is perfect. They have all their parts working. No matter how great our imagination, we would probably never think about creating a beetle with a flame thrower in it, but that is what God did! There is a small group of beetles called bombardier beetles. They are nothing special to look at, but God put a very special protective mechanism in them. They have a built in flame thrower in back end of these beetles. They can aim it in any direction and fire it at will. It shoots caustic chemicals at any attacker that are boiling temperature. It can shoot 20 bursts a second. The mechanism that shoots these hot chemicals is a marvel of design. There is a small chamber that holds chemicals that will eventually explode. When beetle feels threatened, that chamber will contract causing a small amount of these chemicals to enter a second chamber. In that chamber, there are chemicals which cause an explosion. At tip of abdomen, there is a small turret which can be pointed in any direction. When chemicals explode burst through this small turret. Once, many years ago, when people still traveled by wood burning trains, there were two entomologists traveling in southern United States. When train stopped to take on water, these men went out into a field to collect insects. When train whistle blew, one of men had an insect clutched tightly in each hand. By time he got back to train, it was moving. With his hands full, he could not grab onto hand rail and pull himself onto train. So, without thinking, he popped one of insects into his mouth. It happened to be a bombardier beetle. He later wrote in his journal that he could sympathize with any predator that tried to eat this small insect because he immediately had a very hot burning sensation in his mouth! It is amazing to me that God would expend effort and planning necessary to create these tiny creatures. They are perfect examples of miniaturization. Their tiny parts all fitted together to make them not only survive, but thrive. It is evident that there was a lot of loving attention given to them.
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