iBombardier beetles
Brachinus species
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Coleoptera Family: Carabidae
Tribes
Brachinini Paussini Ozaenini Metriini Image File history File linksMetadata Brachinus_spPCCA20060328-2821B.jpg‎ File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Bombardier beetle Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... For other uses, see Scientific classification (disambiguation). ... Phyla Subregnum Parazoa Porifera Subregnum Eumetazoa Placozoa Orthonectida Rhombozoa Radiata (unranked) Ctenophora Cnidaria Bilateria (unranked) Acoelomorpha Myxozoa Superphylum Deuterostomia Chordata Hemichordata Echinodermata Chaetognatha Xenoturbellida Superphylum Ecdysozoa Kinorhyncha Loricifera Priapulida Nematoda Nematomorpha Onychophora Tardigrada Arthropoda Superphylum Platyzoa Platyhelminthes Gastrotricha Rotifera Acanthocephala Gnathostomulida Micrognathozoa Cycliophora Superphylum Lophotrochozoa Sipuncula Nemertea Phoronida Ectoprocta Bryozoa... Subphyla and Classes Subphylum Trilobitomorpha Trilobita - trilobites (extinct) Subphylum Chelicerata Arachnida - spiders,scorpions, etc. ... Orders See taxonomy Insects are invertebrates that are taxonomically referred to as the class Insecta. ... Suborders Adephaga Archostemata Myxophaga Polyphaga See subgroups of the order Coleoptera Wikispecies has information related to: Coleoptera Beetles are the most diverse group of insects. ... Genera Many genera; see text. ...

Wikispecies has information related to:

Brachinini

Bombardier Beetles are ground beetles (Carabidae) in the tribes Brachinini, Paussini, Ozaenini, or Metriini—more than 500 species altogether—that are most notable for the defense mechanism that gives them their name: They can fire a mixture of chemicals from special glands in their posterior. GFDL Wikispecies logo File links The following pages link to this file: Solanaceae Species Asterias Homo (genus) Human Wikipedia:Template messages/Links Wikipedia:Template messages/All Homo floresiensis User talk:Tuneguru Template:Wikispecies Categories: GFDL images ... Wikispecies is a sister project supported by the Wikimedia Foundation that anybody can edit with a great potential use to students and researchers. ... Genera Many genera; see text. ... Genera (see article, hundreds) in 14 Subfamilies The ground beetles are a large family (Carabidae) of common and widespread beetles. ... In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biodiversity. ... A gland is an organ in an animals body that synthesizes a substance for release such as hormones, often into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland). ...

Bombardier beetles of all types are found on most continents of the world, generally in temperate zone woodlands or grasslands.

Defense mechanism

The mechanism works thus: Secretory cells produce hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide (and perhaps other chemicals, depending on the species), which collect in a reservoir. The reservoir opens through a muscle-controlled valve onto a thick-walled reaction chamber. This chamber is lined with cells that secrete catalases and peroxidases. When the contents of the reservoir are forced into the reaction chamber, the catalases and peroxidases rapidly break down the hydrogen peroxide and catalyze the oxidation of the hydroquinones into p-quinones. These reactions release free oxygen and generate enough heat to bring the mixture to the boiling point and vaporize about a fifth of it. Under pressure of the released gasses, the valve is forced closed, and the chemicals are expelled explosively through openings at the tip of the abdomen. Each time it does this it shoots about 70 times very rapidly. (The spray is aimed with precision accuracy, and can be pointed in any direction, even forward over its back by bouncing the spray off a pair of skeletal reflectors that it sticks out from the tip of its abdomen at the moment of ejection.) This effectively deters predators, often causing blindness or death, and can be painful to human skin. R-phrases , , , , , S-phrases , , , Flash point 165 °C RTECS number MX3500000 Supplementary data page Structure and properties n, εr, etc. ... Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a very pale blue liquid which appears colourless in a dilute solution, slightly more viscous than water. ... Catalase (human erythrocyte catalase: PDB 1DGF, EC 1. ... Glutathione Peroxidase 1 A peroxidase (eg. ... In chemistry and biology, catalysis is the acceleration (increase in rate) or slowing down of a chemical reaction by means of a substance, called a catalyst, that is itself not consumed by the overall reaction. ... The most fundamental reactions in chemistry are the redox processes. ... A quinone (or benzoquinone) is either one of the two isomers of cyclohexadienedione or a derivative thereof. ...

Intelligent design

Bombardier beetles have come to public attention in recent years largely because of arguments put forward by creationists, particularly in the children's book Bomby the Bombardier Beetle.^[1] The book argues that the beetles' internal design is an example of irreducible complexity, because various components needed to make the system work appear to provide no benefit in themselves, meaning the entire system would have to be created at once. According to the book this indicates that the beetle is the product of intelligent design. The Creation of Light by Gustave Doré. Creationism at its core is the belief that all humanity, life, the Earth, or the universe as a whole was created by a supreme being (often referred to as God[1]) or by other forms of supernatural intervention. ... This article covers irreducible complexity as used by those who argue for intelligent design. ... Intelligent design (ID) is the concept that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection. ...

However, researchers have shown that creationist claims were based on a misreading of research and that the chemical weapon involves minor alterations from systems in other, less noxious beetles.^[2] This lends weight to the idea that this beetle has diverged from other species as a product of evolution by natural selection. This article is about evolution in biology. ... The Galápagos Islands hold 13 species of finches that are closely related and differ most markedly in the shape of their beaks. ...

In one demonstration, documented in the book The Blind Watchmaker, biologist Richard Dawkins mixed together hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide in an artificial environment. No reaction occurred—a catalyst was required. Dawkins' point was that as the beetle's defensive mechanism evolved, the intermediate stages would not explode - the chemicals would not react without a catalyst. Cover illustration by the zoologist Desmond Morris The Blind Watchmaker is a 1986 book by Richard Dawkins in which he presents an explanation of, and argument for, the theory of evolution by means of natural selection. ... Clinton Richard Dawkins (born March 26, 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer who holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. ...

Darwin's experience

During Charles Darwin's education at the University of Cambridge he became involved in a national craze for the competitive collecting of beetles. On one occasion in 1828 he stripped bark from a dead tree and caught a rare beetle in each hand, then saw another new species. With the habits of an egg-collector, he popped the beetle from his right hand into his mouth and grabbed the other with his free hand. The beetle which he had placed in his mouth, likely a bombardier beetle, "ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt [his] tongue," forcing him to spit it out; he lost the beetle, as well as the third.^[3] Charles Darwins education gave him knowledge of medicine as well as the theology of current faith based ideas. ... The University of Cambridge, located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world, with a reputation as one of the worlds most prestigious universities. ... 1828 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

References

2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 12 is the 193rd day (194th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 172 days remaining. ...

External links

• Bombardier Beetles and the Argument of Design, from the talk.origins archive
• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences article: "Spray aiming in the bombardier beetle: Photographic evidence"
• Genus Brachinus--BugGuide.net
• Bombardier Idea from answersingenesis.org

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