Devil's Coach Beetle
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Ocypus olens
Common & widespread in Britain, seen mainly in the Autumn.
One of the larger European beetles.
The abdominal musculature is powerful and the abdominal segments are covered with sclerotized plates.
It is capable of flight, but its wings are rarely used. It is covered with fine, black hairs.
It is well known for its habit of raising its long and uncovered abdomen and opening its jaws, rather like a scorpion when threatened.
[Although it has no sting, it can give a painful bite with its strong, pincer-like jaws.
It emits a foul-smelling odour, as a defensive secretion, from a pair of white glands at the end of its abdomen.