I have learned that even walking out to the mailbox in Florida can be an adventure into the world of wildlife. Just the other day, I was making my trek down the hot driveway to gather up my bills and magazines when I caught sight of something on the sidewalk. It was big; I mean really big. It wasn’t the size of my head or anything, but it was about as long as my finger which is a good few inches.  It was a beautiful beetle; a Scarab Beetle to be exact. I gently touched its shell and lightly picked it  up. But to my dismay, the beetle’s legs had sharp spines that found their way into my flesh. Not painful, but enough to make me set it down and go about my business.The point I am sure the beetle was trying to make.

Scarab beetle

After I snapped a picture of the beauty, I went inside to figure out what was so special about these bugs. According to insects.org, there are far more beetles on this planet than have been discovered and named.  To give you an idea of the breadth of species, there are just about 1.4 million named species of plants and animals and of those named nearly ¼ of them are beetles! Can you believe it? The more staggering information is that it is estimated that there are four to ten million species that haven’t even been discovered—how many of those are beetles?

 Scarab beetles, like the one lazily wasting some time on my sidewalk, are known to have hard, shiny ­bodies that resist scratching and shed dirt easily. This ­feature is of great importance to this ­beetle because it spends much time ­burrowing and digging, and even locating dung. The famous Dung Beetle is indeed a Scarab species that gets its nutrients from dung, but most Scarabs feed on roots, leaves and flowers.
I used to have a Scarab beetle amulet that I hung from a beaded necklace when I was younger. I was told it would bring me luck, and according to the Egyptian culture it is considered sacred. Florida’s Fabulous Insects states that ancient Egyptians believed that the Scarab Beetle represented the Sun God Khopri and was a symbol of ­eternal life. They even went as far as ­removing the heart of the deceased and replacing it with a carving of a Scarab Beetle. This was to make sure the deceased would avoid any punishment for their sins in the afterlife.
 Maybe a little luck rubbed off on me when I touched my little Scarab on the sidewalk—I can only hope.

© Copyright 2008 by The Observer News Publications and M&M Printing Company, Inc.

Top of Page