Meloe

The blister beetle genus Meloe is a large, widespread group commonly referred to as oil beetles. They are known as "oil beetles" because they release oily droplets of hemolymph from their joints when disturbed; this contains cantharidin, a poisonous chemical causing blistering of the skin and painful swelling. Members of this genus are typically flightless, without functional wings, and shortened elytra.

As in other members of the family, they are hypermetamorphic, going through several larval stages, the first of which is typically a mobile triungulin that finds and attaches to a host in order to gain access to the host's offspring. In this genus, the host is a bee, and each species of Meloe may attack only a single species or genus of bees; while sometimes considered parasitoids, it appears that in general, the Meloe larva consumes the bee larva along with its provisions, and can often survive on the provisions alone, thus they do not truly qualify (see Parasitoid for definition).

Meloë

Meloë (Ancient Greek: Μελόη) may refer to:

See also

Meloë (Lycia)

Meloë (Ancient Greek: Μελόη) was a town in ancient Lycia, located near Cape Kilidonia.

Bishops

When speaking of the bishopric of Meloë in Lycia, Lequien assigned to it three bishops mentioned in the acts of relatively late church councils. To do so, he assumes that Meloë was also called Mela. The first is Nicetas. who signed the acts of the Second Council of Nicaea (787) as "Nicetas of Mela". Another is Paulus, who signed the acts of the Council of Constantinople (869) and those of the Council of Constantinople (879) as "Paulus of Mela". Also present at the last of these councils was "Petrus of Meloë". Lequien takes it that Paulus became bishop under Patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople and Petrus under Photius. Gams accepts Lequien's list of three named bishops.

Lequien mentions as present at the council of 787 a bishop of Mela in Bithynia whose name is given in some accounts as Nicetas, the name also of the Nicetas of Mela whom Lequien assigns to Meloë in Lycia, while other accounts refer to him as Nectarius. In his study of the 787 council, Darrouzès also assigns this Nicetas of Mela to Mela in Bithynia. Lequien likewise mentions as bishop of Mela in Bithynia "Paulus of Mela", present at the councils of 869 and 879. Gams, on the other hand, makes no mention of Mela in Bithynia among the bishoprics of either Bithynia Prima or Bithynia Secunda.