Quinone
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Eleodes gigantea
desert stink beetle, darkling beetle
Eleodes gigantea is a large darkling beetle in the family Tenebrionidae, commonly known as the desert stink beetle. It is distributed along the Pacific coast of North America from central California to Baja California, Mexico. When threatened, it exhibits the characteristic defensive behavior of the genus Eleodes: raising its body and secreting benzoquinone compounds from abdominal glands. The subspecies E. gigantea meridionalis has been documented in Pleistocene deposits at the La Brea Tar Pits.