How This Bug Larva Brutally Murders its Prey

Deadly larva is uncommon in the insect kingdom.  In fact only around ten percent of animals are capable of killing prey that are larger than them. However, one particular beetle larva can not only kill larger predators, but it can kill in multiple and particularly brutal ways.  The genus of beetle known as Epomis lures its much larger prey by doing nothing more than looking like food to predatory salamanders and amphibeans.

Essentially this beetle larva goes from being the prey to being the predator, and scientists believe that the Rock Lobster is the only other creature in the animal kingdom capable of pulling this switcheroo.  But how does this beetle larva kill animals much larger than it and win every time?

When, for example, a toad confidently approaches this beetle larva, the toad will obviously feel as though it has just found an easy snack.  Instead the beetle larva will wait until it is in the toad’s mouth and then the larva will penetrate the toad’s tongue with its pinchers, slowly draining the toad of all its entrails.  And this will only happen if the larva decides not to use its superior speed to escape the toad.  If the larva should happen to feel lazy, the toad may just swallow the larva, but the toad will inevitably puke the larva back out a couple of hours later.  Once the larva is expelled from the toad the larva will attack the toad and slowly digest it with a corrosive enzyme.

There are numerous ways in which this sick-minded beetle larva can kill its enemies, this article only goes over a few, and these are not even the most brutal.  I bet you would hate to hear how the larva kills its prey once it has completed its metamorphosis and becomes an adult beetle, so we will save that for another article.

Have you seen any other examples of smaller animals preying on larger animals or insects? What other species are capable of this incredible feat?