Kingdom Animalia Order Coleoptera Superfamily Tenebrionoidea Scientific name Eleodes Rank Genus | Phylum Arthropoda Suborder Polyphaga Family Tenebrionidae Higher classification Darkling beetle | |
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Similar Beetle, Darkling beetle, Insect, Tenebrioninae, Arthropod | ||
Pinacate beetles, also known as stink beetles, are darkling beetle of the genus Eleodes endemic to the Sonoran Desert and adjacent regions of the U.S. Southwest and Mexico, usually the species Eleodes obscurus. The name is also loosely applied to a number of closely related species of Eleodes, of Western Mexico and the Western United States (including the Great Basin), which, aside from the wooly darkling beetle, are not easily distinguished from each other. The name pinacate is Mexican Spanish, derived from the Nahuatl (Aztec) name for the insect, pinacatl, which translates as "black beetle".
The pinacate beetle is noted for its defensive tactic of standing on its head and squirting a noxious spray. This has earned it the additional names of clown bug and stink bug, names also applied to other unrelated insects.
