|
Canku Ota |
|
(Many Paths) |
||
An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America |
||
March 22, 2003 - Issue 83 |
||
|
||
|
||
by Frank Hamilton Cushing, Zuni Folk Tales, 1901 |
||
In remote times, after our ancients were settled at Middle Ant Hill, a little thing occurred which will explain a great deal. My children, you have doubtless. seen Tip-beetles. They run around on smooth, hard patches of ground in spring time and early summer, kicking their heels into the air and thrusting their heads into any crack or hole they find. Well, in ancient times, on the pathway leading around to Fat Mountain, there was one of these Beetles running about in all directions in the sunshine, when a Coyote came trotting along. He pricked up his ears, lowered his nose, arched his neck, and stuck out his paw toward the Beetle. "Ha!" said he, "I shall bite you!" The Beetle immediately stuck his head down close to the ground, and, lifting one of his antenna deprecatingly, exclaimed: "Hold on! Hold on, friend! Wait a bit, for the love of mercy! I hear something very strange down below here!" "Humph!" replied the Coyote. "What do you hear?" "Hush! hush!" cried the Beetle, with his head still to the ground. "Listen!" So
the Coyote drew back and listened most attentively. By-and-by the Beetle
lifted himself with a long sigh of relief. "The Good Soul save us!" exclaimed the Beetle, with a shake of his head. "I heard them saying down there that tomorrow they would chase away and thoroughly chastise everybody who defiled the public trails of this country, and they are making ready as fast as they can!" "Souls of my ancestors!" cried the Coyote. "I have been loitering along this trail this very morning, and have defiled it repeatedly. I'll cut!" And away he ran as fast as he could go. The Beetle, in pure exuberance of spirits, turned somersaults and stuck his head in the sand until it was quite turned. Thus did the Beetle in the days of the ancients save himself from being bitten. Consequently the Tip-beetle has that strange habit of kicking his heels into the air and sticking his head in the sand. Thus shortens my story.
Print,
Color and Label Your Own Beetle Picture |
Pinacate Beetles |
Beetles in the genus Eleodes are known as "darkling" or "pinacate beetles," and colloquially as "stinkbugs" or "clown beetles." Eleodes, derived from the Greek term for "olivelike" describes the general body shape and jet black coloration. Darkling is a common name applied to several genera and over 1400 species within the family Tenebrionidae. Pinacate comes from the Aztec pinacatl, for "black beetle." Stinkbug refers to the malodorous secretion emitted from the insects rear end. Clown beetle alludes to the habit of these beetles to do a "headstand" when threatened. Description Range Predators
Habits
and Habitat They are well known for their comical, yet effective, defense tactics. When alarmed they stand on their heads by bending their front legs down and extending their rear legs. Depending upon the species, they exude an oily, musty secretion, which collects at the tip of the abdomen or spreads over posterior parts of the body, or they eject the reddish brown to brown secretion as a spray. Larger desert species, like E. armata and E. longicollis, can spray 10 to 20 inches. Most species can spray multiple times, if necessary. The spray is not painful unless you get it in your eyes or mouth, where it is painful, burning and temporarily blinding. It does not wash off. Notes |
|
||
|
||
Canku Ota is a free Newsletter celebrating Native America, its traditions and accomplishments . We do not provide subscriber or visitor names to anyone. Some articles presented in Canku Ota may contain copyright material. We have received appropriate permissions for republishing any articles. Material appearing here is distributed without profit or monetary gain to those who have expressed an interest. This is in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. | ||
Canku Ota is a copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 of Vicki Lockard and Paul Barry. |
||
The "Canku Ota - A Newsletter Celebrating Native America" web site and its design is the |
||
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 of Paul C. Barry. |
||
All Rights Reserved. |