Blister beetle

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Blister beetle Temporal range: Cenomanian–Recent PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Hycleus lugens
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Superfamily:	Tenebrionoidea
Family:	Meloidae Gyllenhaal, 1810
Subfamilies
Eleticinae Meloinae Nemognathinae Tetraonycinae

Blister beetles are beetles of the family Meloidae, so called for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin. About 7,500 species are known worldwide. Many are conspicuous and some are aposematically colored, announcing their toxicity to would-be predators.