Blister Beetle

Blister beetles are a family of beetles, Meloidae, named for their defensive ability to secrete cantharidin, a toxic chemical that causes painful blistering on contact with skin; a dried and powdered preparation of one European species was historically sold as the folk remedy Spanish fly. Many species undergo an unusual life cycle called hypermetamorphosis, in which the tiny, mobile first-stage larva seeks out and parasitizes the nest of a solitary bee or the egg pods of grasshoppers, after which later larval stages become grub-like and sedentary while feeding.