Uploaded December 2017 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago
In this episode we explore how irreducible complexity predicts that the bombardier beetle's defense mechanism could not have evolved step-by-step.
Thank you to Alex Wild for the fantastic insect photography.
alexanderwild.com
References:
Creationist Arguments
creation.com/the-amazing-bombardier-beetle
answersingenesis.org/evidence-for-creation/design-in-nature/pygidial-gland-of-the-bombardier-beetle-brachinus-sp
icr.org/article/bombardier-beetle
Michael Behe - Darwin's Black Box
goodreads.com/book/show/49038.Darwin_s_Black_Box
William Dembski - No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence
amazon.com/Free-Lunch-Specified-Complexity-Intelligence/dp/0742512975
Behe Article - In Defense of the Irreducibility of the Blood Clotting Cascade: Response to Russell Doolittle, Ken Miller and Keith Robison
discovery.org/a/442
Duane Gish - Dinosaurs: Those Terrible Lizards
amazon.com/Dinosaurs-Terrible-Duane-T-Gish/dp/0890510393
Bombardier Beetle Anatomy
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1467803915000766
Hydrogen Peroxide
nature.com/nrm/journal/v8/n9/full/nrm2240.html?foxtrotcallback=true
Hackman - Chemistry of Insect Cuticle
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1268999/pdf/biochemj01096-0034.pdf
Konrad Dettner - Chemosystematics and evolution of beetle chemical defenses.
researchgate.net/publication/234150054_Chemosystematics_And_Evolution_Of_Beetle_Chemical_Defenses
Thomas Eisner - Chemical defense against predation in arthropods.
http://vivo.cornell.edu/display/AI-24074790913
Thomas Eisner - Chemical Defense By Termite Soldiers
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00987930
Experiments with Drosophila
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7892602
accessexcellence.org/WN/SUA01/master_eye_gene.php
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7531187
Flavobacterium Genetics
pnas.org/content/81/8/2421.long
Bert Holldobler & Edward O. Wilson - The Ants, Bleknap Press, MA. pp. 233-237
Ant Morphology
bio.kuleuven.be/ento/pdfs/billen_etal_asd_2013_myopias.pdf
Hermann Schildknecht, Eleonore Maschwitz. and U. Maschwitz. "Die Explosionschemie der Bombardierkafer (Coleoptera, Carabidae),"
zfn.mpdl.mpg.de/data/Reihe_B/23/ZNB-1968-23b-1213.pdf
D.J. Forsyth - The structure of the defence glands of the Cicindelidae, Amphizoidae, and Hygrobiidae
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1970.tb02897.x/full
Catalase Synthesis
http://biology.kenyon.edu/BMB/Chime/catalase/frames/cattx.htm#Proposed%20Mechanism%20of%20Catalase
Peroxidase
bmcdevbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12861-016-0143-8
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0888754307000110
THOMAS EISNER, DANIEL J. ANESHANSLEY, MARIA EISNER, ATHULA B. ATTYGALLE, DAVID W. ALSOP AND JERROLD MEINWALD - SPRAY MECHANISM OF THE MOST PRIMITIVE BOMBARDIER BEETLE
jeb.biologists.org/content/jexbio/203/8/1265.full.pdf
Mark Isaak's First publishing of this hypothesis
talkorigins.org/faqs/bombardier.html
In this episode we explore how irreducible complexity predicts that the bombardier beetle's defense mechanism could not have evolved step-by-step.
Thank you to Alex Wild for the fantastic insect photography.
alexanderwild.com
References:
Creationist Arguments
creation.com/the-amazing-bombardier-beetle
answersingenesis.org/evidence-for-creation/design-in-nature/pygidial-gland-of-the-bombardier-beetle-brachinus-sp
icr.org/article/bombardier-beetle
Michael Behe - Darwin's Black Box
goodreads.com/book/show/49038.Darwin_s_Black_Box
William Dembski - No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence
amazon.com/Free-Lunch-Specified-Complexity-Intelligence/dp/0742512975
Behe Article - In Defense of the Irreducibility of the Blood Clotting Cascade: Response to Russell Doolittle, Ken Miller and Keith Robison
discovery.org/a/442
Duane Gish - Dinosaurs: Those Terrible Lizards
amazon.com/Dinosaurs-Terrible-Duane-T-Gish/dp/0890510393
Bombardier Beetle Anatomy
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1467803915000766
Hydrogen Peroxide
nature.com/nrm/journal/v8/n9/full/nrm2240.html?foxtrotcallback=true
Hackman - Chemistry of Insect Cuticle
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1268999/pdf/biochemj01096-0034.pdf
Konrad Dettner - Chemosystematics and evolution of beetle chemical defenses.
researchgate.net/publication/234150054_Chemosystematics_And_Evolution_Of_Beetle_Chemical_Defenses
Thomas Eisner - Chemical defense against predation in arthropods.
http://vivo.cornell.edu/display/AI-24074790913
Thomas Eisner - Chemical Defense By Termite Soldiers
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00987930
Experiments with Drosophila
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7892602
accessexcellence.org/WN/SUA01/master_eye_gene.php
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7531187
Flavobacterium Genetics
pnas.org/content/81/8/2421.long
Bert Holldobler & Edward O. Wilson - The Ants, Bleknap Press, MA. pp. 233-237
Ant Morphology
bio.kuleuven.be/ento/pdfs/billen_etal_asd_2013_myopias.pdf
Hermann Schildknecht, Eleonore Maschwitz. and U. Maschwitz. "Die Explosionschemie der Bombardierkafer (Coleoptera, Carabidae),"
zfn.mpdl.mpg.de/data/Reihe_B/23/ZNB-1968-23b-1213.pdf
D.J. Forsyth - The structure of the defence glands of the Cicindelidae, Amphizoidae, and Hygrobiidae
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1970.tb02897.x/full
Catalase Synthesis
http://biology.kenyon.edu/BMB/Chime/catalase/frames/cattx.htm#Proposed%20Mechanism%20of%20Catalase
Peroxidase
bmcdevbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12861-016-0143-8
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0888754307000110
THOMAS EISNER, DANIEL J. ANESHANSLEY, MARIA EISNER, ATHULA B. ATTYGALLE, DAVID W. ALSOP AND JERROLD MEINWALD - SPRAY MECHANISM OF THE MOST PRIMITIVE BOMBARDIER BEETLE
jeb.biologists.org/content/jexbio/203/8/1265.full.pdf
Mark Isaak's First publishing of this hypothesis
talkorigins.org/faqs/bombardier.html
