The bombardier beetle is too complex to have evolved

From EvoWiki

Contents 1 Claim 2 Source 3 Responses 4 Fallacies contained in this claim 5 External Links 6 References 7 Further Reading 8 Related claims 9 See Also 10 Acknowledgments

Claim

The bombardier beetle can't be explained by evolution. It must have been designed.

Source

• Gish, Duane, 1977. Those Terrible Lizards, Creation-Life Publishers, San Diego, pp. 51-52.
• Anonymous, 1990. The amazing bombardier beetle. Creation Ex Nihilo 12(1): 29.

Responses

1. A possible stepwise evolution is found here. Many of the proposed steps in that evolution appear in living animals, demonstrating their viability.
2. Creationists who make this claim fail to realize that the bombardier beetle has many relatives with similar, but less perfected systems, where some squirt with poor aim, or even simply letting the hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide mixture ooze out.
3. So, what does Creationism say about bombardier beetles? Why would it have needed such a system to defend itself in the Garden of Eden? If it gained this ability in The Fall, then it would have evolved.
4. In fact, the bombardier beetle's "violent explosion" is in fact merely a scalding hot liquid. Furthermore, the chemicals are already present in the animal's chemistry and only react violently with the assistance of a catalyst (Dawkins 1996, 86-87). Also it is important that it is easy to change the shape of a protein, change the surface area, and increase the catalytic activity. The protein, once evolved, would not immediately have been "explosive" anyways.
5. add more responses

Fallacies contained in this claim

• Argument from incredulity (I don't understand bombardier beetles: God made them that way)
• Appeal to Mystery (can't be explained without deus ex machina)
• Suppressed Evidence (the bombardier beetle's relatives are ignored)

External Links

• Isaak, M., 1997. Bombardier beetles and the argument of design. [1]

References

1. Erwin, Terry L., 1967. Bombardier beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) of North America: Part II. Biology and behavior of Brachinus pallidus Erwin in California. Coleopterists' Bulletin 21: 41-55.
2. Erwin, Terry L., 1970. A reclassification of bombardier beetles and a taxonomic revision of the North and Middle American species (Carabidae: Brachinida). Quaestiones Entomologicae 6: 4-215; in particular, pp. 46, 55, 91, 114-115, 119.
3. Eisner, Thomas, 1958. The protective role of the spray mechanism of the bombardier beetle, Brachynus ballistarius Lec. Journal of Insect Physiology 2: 215-220.
4. Eisner, T. & Aneshansley, D.J., 1982. Spray aiming in bombardier beetles: jet deflection by the Coanda effect. Science 215: 83-85.
5. Morris, Henry M., 1974. Scientific Creationism, Master Books, Arkansas, p. 70.
6. Dinosaurs by Design/Dinosaurs Those Terrible Lizards

Further Reading

• Weber, C.G., 1981. The bombardier beetle myth exploded. Creation/Evolution 2(1): 1-5.

Related claims

• Bombardier beetle chemicals would explode if mixed without an inhibitor
• Complex organs couldn't have evolved
• The eye is too complex to have evolved
• The ear is too complex to have evolved
• The brain is too complex to have evolved
• Butterfly metamorphosis is too complex to have evolved
• The giraffe neck couldn't evolve without a special circulatory system
• The woodpecker tongue couldn't have evolved
• Organs and organ systems would be useless until all parts are in place
• Snake venom and hollow fangs couldn't have evolved simultaneously
• Sex can't have evolved

See Also

• Why is Creationism not a Scientific Theory?

Acknowledgments