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Unknown beetle (I think)
Hello… I live in Colorado, and we just recently moved out into the open range lands outside of the city for the peace and quiet, and we noticed these beetle type insects all over the weeds/wild grass that is sprouting up behind our house. They struck me as odd because their front end was sooo small, almost looking like a large ant, and the abdomen was LARGE, like it was engorged, so I figured it was a queen or something, but as I started looking around, I noticed they are all over the place and they all look the same. Small front end, LARGE abdomen. They range in length from baby ones about 1/2 inch to large ones about 1 1/2 inches. Attached is a picture of 2 different views of the same one! My family is ready to start sparying them with insect repelants, but before they do anything, I would like to know what they are. They seem to only be feeding on the weeds/grass themselves, so not hunters.

This is a type of Blister Beetle known as the Oil Beetle, Meloe angusticollis. Be careful, if disturbed, it can exude droplets of liquid from the leg joints that cause blisters.

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