An Unusual Beetle Behavior

Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Nature, Wildlife, Biodiversity. Biological Evolution, Behavior 

The Ant Lab produces some unusually good and accurate videos on the natural world--featuring mostly much smaller animals than we usually see. The videos are the products of working scientists which makes their work all the more amazing, i.e., they both do research and publish in peer-reviewed scientific journals and produce a video record for others to see and learn from.

In 2021, an Ant Lab video (6m 33s) shows the unusual behavior of the larvae of lined flat bark beetles (Laemophloeus biguttatus). They jump! In an update they linked to the research publication in which it was published.

I urge a scan of the comments for many of them are from thoughtful viewers, including suggesting other hypotheses and expressing wonder about this jumping behavior.