Bombardier Beetle

The Bombardier Beetle is a small Ground Beetle in the Family Carabidae and is famous for it's hot acid machine gun fire from the anus. It is an extremely efficient defense mechanism against predators and has been studied extensively to see how it creates its hot chemical bomb and how it fires in machine gun rapidity. See the references for the story and video. There are at least 5 species of Brachinus that are not easily determined by photographs alone. About 8 mm long. The head and thorax are orange and the elytra are metallic blue-green.