Sexton beetle's responsible parenthood is rare in the insect world

I received a beetle in the post from Ireland the other day. I don’t think my Gomero postman realised. A reader from Kanturk had sent it, asking me if I might know what kind of beetle it was. 

It had taken some time getting here. It was posted on September 24 and, after being forwarded from my home in West Cork, arrived on this somewhat out-of-the-way Canary island on November 14.

The man who kindly sent the specimen no doubt thought I would have it within one or two days. The delay was nobody’s fault. It arrived in a small envelope, hidden among unsolicited mail which we had told my son that there was no hurry to forward.