...and another beetle with staying power

FOR most creepy crawlies, life is a constant battle to avoid being squashed, swatted or stepped on.

Not so the ‘diabolical ironclad beetle’ – which is so tough it can survive even being run over by a car.

Scientists have found its armour can withstand a force of around 150 newtons.

That’s ten times the force of a bird or rat biting down on it – and it may have evolved this way to foil these kinds of predators.

A 14-stone man with the same toughness would be able to withstand more than 3,500 tons without being crushed. To find out the beetle’s secret, researchers analysed microscope images, 3D-printed models and computer simulations, as well as compressing the insect with steel plates.

They worked out its strength lies in its interlocking forewings – pieces of its exoskeleton that meet at a line running down its back in a jigsaw pattern.

They also found the compression absorbing exoskeleton, made of protein and a fibrous material called chitin, allows the beetle, pictured, to withstand 39,000 times its body weight.

The scientists, led by engineers at the University of California, Irvine, and Purdue

University, said the design could be used to create tougher metals for bridges, buildings and vehicles. David Kisailus, co-author of the study published in the journal Nature, said: ‘The ironclad is a terrestrial beetle, so it’s not lightweight and fast but built more like a little tank. That’s its adaptation – it can’t fly away, so it just stays put and lets its specially designed armour take the abuse until the predator gives up.’ The strength of the beetle, which lives in oak trees on the US west coast, has caused problems for those using standard steel pins to mount the insects in display cases – they have had to use power drills instead.