Picture taken by Dr Uzi Glazer on 10.2.07 at Batrunot Ruhama.
Bodenheimer 1935 (the year of my birth) has this to say about the Genus Meloe: "The genus Meloe which contains the large steel-blue M. proscarabaeus and the greyish-blue M. cacensis has short elytra. In the females the abdomen grows enormously before the oviposition and contains about 1000 eggs, which are laid within a very short period of time. It occurs in late winter and the early spring when it may be seen crawling on the ground".

For more information on this insect's close and distant relatives, why not visit my check-list of Israeliinsects?