{{Short description|Species of beetle}} {{Speciesbox | image = Eleodes gigantea - inat 26754419.jpg | image_caption = | taxon = Eleodes gigantea | authority = [[Carl Gustaf Mannerheim (naturalist)|Mannerheim]], 1843 }}
'''''Eleodes gigantea''''' is a species of desert stink beetle or darkling beetle<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Braun |first1=Jenna |last2=Westphal |first2=Michael |last3=Lortie |first3=Christopher J. |date=September 2021 |title=The shrub ''Ephedra californica'' facilitates arthropod communities along a regional desert climatic gradient |url=https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.3760 |journal=Ecosphere |volume=12 |issue=9 |page=e03760 |doi=10.1002/ecs2.3760 |bibcode=2021Ecosp..12E3760B |doi-access=free }}</ref> in the family [[Tenebrionidae]].<ref name=gbif/><ref name=bugguide/><ref name=Bousquet2018/> They can be found from San Francisco, California down to Tijuana, Mexico, however, they are more typically located in the lower half of California from Santa Cruz to San Diego.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Blaisdell |first=FE |date=1918 |title=Studies in the tenebrionid tribe Eleodiini. No. 4 (Coleop.) |url=https://mbd-db.osu.edu/uploads/ref_work/publications/pdf_file/file/7eda7236-da3b-45e8-8d24-c8652b997971/29636.pdf |access-date=September 19, 2024 |journal=Entomological News |volume=29 |pages=380–387}}</ref>
They typically have a smooth black [[elytron]] and like other species of ''[[Eleodes]]'', when frightened they secrete [[Quinone|benzoquinone]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Holliday |first1=Alison E. |last2=Walker |first2=Faye M. |last3=Brodie |first3=Edmund D. |last4=Formica |first4=Vincent A. |date=2009-11-01 |title=Differences in Defensive Volatiles of the Forked Fungus Beetle, ''Bolitotherus cornutus'', Living on Two Species of Fungus |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10886-009-9712-7 |journal=Journal of Chemical Ecology |volume=35 |issue=11 |pages=1302–1308 |doi=10.1007/s10886-009-9712-7 |pmid=19936835 |bibcode=2009JCEco..35.1302H |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and upturn their bodies to spray it. The secretion is orange in color and has a strong odor that causes the eyes to water.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Emerton |first1=J. H. |title=Notes on Canadian and Arctic spiders |journal=Psyche: A Journal of Entomology |year=1921 |volume=28 |issue=5–6 |pages=147–148 |doi=10.1155/1921/36012 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
''[[Eleodes gigantea meridionalis]]'' have been found in the [[La Brea Tar Pits]]<ref>{{Cite web |website=La Brea Tar Pits & Museum |title=Invertebrate Collections |url=https://tarpits.org/research-collections/tar-pits-collections/invertebrate-collections}}</ref> and some of the earliest reports of the species date back to 1918.<ref name=":0" /> They are most active during sundown.<ref name=":1" /> [[File:Eleodes gigantea1.jpg|thumb|''Eleodes gigantea'']]
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=gbif>{{GBIF | title=''Eleodes gigantea'' | id=8666817 | access-date=2021-09-08 }}</ref>
<ref name=bugguide> {{Cite web| title=''Eleodes gigantea'' species Information | url=https://bugguide.net/node/view/878658 | website=BugGuide.net | access-date=2021-09-08 }}</ref>
<ref name=Bousquet2018> {{Cite journal | title = Catalogue of Tenebrionidae (Coleoptera) of North America | date = 2018 | last1 = Bousquet | first1 = Yves | last2 = Thomas | first2 = Donald B. | last3 = Bouchard | first3 = Patrice | last4 = Smith | first4 = Aaron D. | last5 = Aalbu | first5 = Rolf L. | last6 = Johnston | first6 = M. Andrew | last7 = Steiner | first7 = Warren E. Jr. | display-authors = 4 | journal = ZooKeys | issue = 728| pages = 1–455 | doi = 10.3897/zookeys.728.20602 | pmc=5799738 | pmid=29416389 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2018ZooK..728....1B }}</ref> }}
==Further reading== {{refbegin}} * {{Cite journal | title = Redefinition of the ''Eleodes'' Eschscholtz subgenera ''Tricheleodes'' Blaisdell and ''Pseudeleodes'' Blaisdell | date = 2016 | last1 = Johnston | first1 = M. A. | journal = Annales Zoologici | volume = 66| issue = 4| pages = 665–679 | doi = 10.3161/00034541ANZ2016.66.4.018 | s2cid = 90125600 }} {{refend}}
==External links== {{refbegin}} * {{Commons-inline}} {{refend}}
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[[Category:Eleodes|gigantea]] [[Category:Beetles of North America]] [[Category:Beetles described in 1843]] [[Category:Taxa named by Carl Gustaf Mannerheim (naturalist)]]
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