Natures wonders: the bombardier beetle evolution problem (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, June 17, 2020, 00:58 (1619 days ago) @ David Turell

This animal produces very nasty, toxic fluid for defense. How to evolve this and not react to it at the same time?:

https://phys.org/news/2020-06-reveals-chemistry-bombardier-beetle-extraordinary.html

"If you want to see one of the wonders of the natural world, just startle a bombardier beetle. But be careful: when the beetles are scared, they flood an internal chamber with a complex cocktail of aromatic chemicals, triggering a cascade of chemical reaction that detonates the fluid and sends it shooting out of the insect's spray nozzle in a machine-gun-like pulse of toxic, scalding-hot vapor. The explosive, high-pressure burst of noxious chemicals doesn't harm the beetle, but it stains and irritates human skin—and can kill smaller enemies outright.

"The beetle's extraordinary arsenal has been held up by some as a proof of God's existence: how on earth, creationists argue, could such a complex, multistep defense mechanism evolve by chance? Now researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J. show how the bombardier beetle concocts its deadly explosives and in the process, learn how evolution gave rise to the beetle's remarkable firepower. (my bold)

***

"The team at Stevens showed that in fact just one of the beetle's benzoquinones derived from hydroquinone, with the other springing from a completely separate precursor: m-cresol, a toxin found in coal tar.

"It's fascinating that the beetles can safely metabolize such toxic chemicals, Attygalle said. In future studies, he hopes to follow the beetles' chemical supply chain further upstream, to learn how the precursors are biosynthesized from naturally available substances.

"The team's findings also show that the beetles' explosives rely on chemical pathways found in many other creepy-crawlies. Other animals such as millipedes also use benzoquinones to discourage predators, although they lack the bombardier's ability to detonate their chemical defenses. Evolutionarily distant creatures such as spiders and millipedes use similar strategies, too, suggesting that multiple organisms have independently evolved ways to biosynthesize the chemicals.

"That's a reminder that the bombardier beetle, though remarkable, is part of a rich and completely natural evolutionary tapestry, Attygalle said. "By studying the similarities and differences between beetles' chemistry, we can see more clearly how they and other species fit together into the evolutionary tree," he explained. "Beetles are incredibly diverse, and they all have amazing chemical stories to tell.'"

Comment: note the bolds and the red colored section. All the scientists learned was how the beetle produces the toxins, not how it protects itself or even more so, how the necessary two processes, production and protection developed simultaneously by chance. This is one of Dr. Behe's prime examples in his first book, "Darwin's Black Box". The Darwinists are so insulated from true thought, they seem to have no idea what they did not prove! Fitting into an evolutionary tree proves nothing. Note the tree is not talking, even if we can see the tree..