Can beetles die from overexcitement?

[i-love-mealworms]

I know this sounds like a very silly question, but one of my Tenebrio molitor beetles died after he came to school with me yesterday. He hitched a ride on my shirt and I only discovered him once at school. I kept him with me in a small container all day, and at the breaks my friends and I played with him. He seemed perfectly healthy. However, this morning he was dead.

I suppose it may have been dehydration or hunger, but he was only without food and water for ~7 hours. Is that enough to kill a beetle? Apart from that, the only explanation I can think of for his death is overexcitement or overstimulation (we messed around with him a lot, although we were very gentle and he was intact at the end of the day).

If you have any idea what happened, please reply because I feel terrible and I want to prevent this from ever happening again.

 

[JKim]

They only live couple months, probably natural death possibly with overstress. When insects move actively, they usually die sooner.

 

[i-love-mealworms]

Okay, thank you very much. I don't know exactly how old he was but it is definitely possible that he was two or three months old (as an adult).