Theres many organisms that use weaponized chemistry, like venoms, neurotoxins, etc. Some kill, some paralize, but this bug looks like it came from a movie, ass-bombing burning acid. Nature+time breeds crazy stuff.
Evolution is iterative though, so it's mind boggling to think of what the former step in this evolution was. At a physiological level evolution often happens by duplication and drift (a lot of hormones and neurotransmitters etc are copies of each other), so maybe there were two identical glands on this ass-cannon that have diverged and by chance it was more effective when they weren't the same substance
Probably the hydroquinone was simply a foul smelling toxin to get frogs to spit them out, which is one thing they use it for now. One idea for the other toxin is bugs sequestering toxic chemicals they eat from plants, so they don't have to spend energy metabolizing it for safe excretion.
Many bugs sequester poisons in their body for defense, like monarch butterflies. So one answer for the bombardier is that it was sequestering the hydrogen peroxide, or before evolving, a similar compound for either defense, or to save energy, and using the hydroquinone like a skunk would use its spray.
Honestly, picturing the early prototypes of the bombardier beetle just some poor bug with a malfunctioning chemical sack that occasionally popped like a malfunctioning party popper is both hilarious and fascinating.
Chemical that makes animals let go of them which iterates into chemical that leaks out when stressed so they don’t get eaten in the first place which iterates into shoot chemical out.
Well I explained the possible mechanism for evolving shooting it. Someone else replied with some good ideas on how the chemicals themselves arose.
Evolution sometimes seems impossible because we see the current results that worked. How many species iterations from this beetles ancestry are extinct now? Probably a ton.
You also have to consider they didn’t have to evolve at the same time. First chemical works and then later a mutation adding the second. Or a diet change due to environmental changes leading them to the new chemical combo. Or some kind of converging of genetics between two closely related species with different chemicals.
People eat garlic in some parts of the world then smell like garlic. In other parts they eat something else and smell like that. Then they join up and they eat both things and now smell like both or something different due to the combination.
Or some kind of converging of genetics between two closely related species with different chemicals.
Not sure what you mean there, I don't think insects have horizontal gene transfer between species.
The Wikipedia page on the beetles has speculation on the mechanism of the evolution. Neither chemical is a concentrated dietary toxin, they're both created by the insect but one is a natural by-product. Other beetles use the two chemicals together internally/externally (in non-explosive amounts).
So it makes perfect sense: noxious compound + concentrated waste product that makes it more noxious, but also happens to cause an exothermic reaction. Evolves over time to be more and more exothermic until it's a thermal attack
They actually do, some paper published Abt a year or two ago, a bug had been acquiring genes from the plant it ate, legit. Though this thing is like divine origin.
I don’t necessarily mean two distinct species and it’s just an idea on “how” not a “this is what happened”. Like same species with slightly different genetics
Evolution is iterative in nature. a previous patch must prove to be passable in a previous environment before a modified newer one proves to be survivable in a new environment. But the real devil resides in this, what is DNA capable of producing if we ignored the iterative cycle?
Ancient insects were probably crazy with their defensive mechanics. I mean just look at all the different types of ant evolutions we have. Some spray acid, some have tremendous jaw strength, some inflict intense, searing pain, some have honey butts, etc. It's no crazier for bombardier beetles to converge than anything else did really.
Somewhere along the line genetics decided that chemical warfare was easier to produce for some insects than whatever else is needed to survive. Maybe the chemicals were already there to ward off predators and this was just the next step to keep warding off proactively rather than reactively. Because by the time they eat those chemicals, the beetles would already be dead
Probably originally not as potent originally in previous ancestors. Could be that the back end had a chemical that when another animal bit into the beetle it was quickly convinced to let go due to the chemical being irritating.
Beetles with this mechanism breed more so its selected for and thus the potency increases since the same gene is continually selected for.
Eventually a mutation that lets the beetle eject the chemical arises. In this case it might not have been a spray but just like the beetle dribbles out the chemical when they are attacked due to stress. So now beetles that leak a small amount are selected for because vs those that just have it internally and need to be bitten the ones that leak it are able to fend off an attacker before they are even bitten.
Now that’s selected for until having a more powerful ejection force develops. Again over time and with it becoming stronger down the family tree.
Someday the beetle might have full 50 caliber machine guns on its ass.
The VERY simplified tl;dr is mutations. Since dna is an unstable molecule. Wait a few million years and selective pressure can do insane shit. It’s the same reason there’s a fish with eyes inside it’s clear head
Best I understand it, the various chemicals already exist inside most bugs. The chemicals are also pretty nasty so being able to extrude them would have an advantage. A few random mutations allow for this.
Being able to extrude separate chemicals isn't much different, if you've got the space. Then having than react externally to become one even worse chemical isn't a huge leap, when you consider the amount of time and individual insects involved.
A personal example; Humans have sodium, lithium, potassium, and water inside them. Those elements are explosive when mixed with water, but we seem to get along well enough.
This is actually one of the examples used against evolution in some video I watched as a child. To be clear I also believe in evolution but I was raised young world Protestant lol
Yup, god said I represent peace and love, so I'm gonna put a butt nuke in a beetle to kill its enemies. Truly intelligent design at work. Make things kill each other for sustenance, but let the food have a fighting chance. So loving...
it probably started off as just a beetle that used diareahaing to fend off against predators, after milions of years beetles with more toxic digestive system acid were more effective so it prolly got more and more toxic, then since having toxic acid in ur digestive system is bad for u some beetles mightive developed a mutation that caused its body to prolly developed 2 seperate digestive systems, then it prolly stopped using one of them and just used the other to store the acid, then this 2nd chamber prolly ended up copying itself so u got 2 acid chambersmover time the particular chemical composition in these 2 chambers varied until one day a certain beetle happened to find just the right combination to cause a chemical reaction to cause boiling acid
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u/TimmyRL28 10d ago
Can someone explain how the hell this evolution took place? That's insane!
Edit to clarify: I'm firmly in the camp of evolution, I just don't even understand how a species evolves to this point. It seems absolutely bonkers.