Dozens of Eleodes obscura beetles nest in the gaps in tree trunks

Latin name	observation date	location
Eleodes obscura	18 November 2023	indonesia,aceh Utara, lhokseumawe, Meurah mulia

hello #natureobserver community friends! This is my first meeting with all my friends. I hope this first meeting will be a good start for all of us

Eleodes obscura is a species of beetle in the genus Eleodes or what we know as the stink beetle, this beetle is very unique, when I held one of them outside its hiding place, they immediately stood up using their heads and emit a very pungent aroma. When I first found the beetle's hiding place, they were still calm without moving at all, I even thought they were dead because there was no movement at all, I didn't want to disturb their nest which was in the gap in the trunk of a large tree, but I saw a beetle of the same type under the nest. They didn't know why this one was wandering outside. I was curious and immediately grabbed this beetle with the intention of putting it in the nest. If the liquid smelled very bad, I tried to take it several times so that it wouldn't run away from the group of people who were still in the nest. After taking several pictures for about 5 minutes, I realized that the liquid on its body was very smelly, on my thumb. My hand which was exposed to the liquid started to turn red like it had pen ink on it.

This is what happened to my thumb after 5 minutes of me touching their body while the fluid was coming out, it didn't feel sore/there was no effect whatsoever, but I don't know whether this fluid is dangerous if it comes into contact with the skin, when I looked at it my hand started to turn red I immediately went to the bathroom at my friend's house to wash the liquid because the smell was unpleasant. After I washed my hands, they still smelled and were red, even after I washed them for the fourth time, there were no changes at all. After I just let it sit for almost 1 hour the smell had started to disappear and only the red color remained.

The gap in the log with a width of approximately 15cm and a length of 40cm is a nest for the Eleodes obscura beetle. About 30 or less nest in the gap in this tree trunk, here I don't disturb them, I just took a few pictures because I was afraid that this beetle would give up. me because I don't know anything about this beetle.

🪲🐞🪲

Camera		Smartphone POCO X3 Pro
editing photo		Mobile Lightroom

photographer		biancamaura
Link		https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/191944021

Latitude		https://maps.app.goo.gl/FpTGYNH9DdBnPLPA9

Link to original		Cummunity

thank you for friends who have given me support and a place to share