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Pleasing Fungus Beetle

Posted by June 29th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

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Pleasing Fungus Beetles

Black spots on a blue beetle
Sat, Jun 27, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Hi – We were at Windy Point on Mt Lemmon in Tucson AZ at the end of May and spotted (get it? spotted?) this handsome fellow. I have never seen anything like him before. Can you identify him? I didn’t see his wings.
Julie
Tucson AZ

Pleasing Fungus Beetle

Pleasing Fungus Beetle

Hi Julie,
Your beetle is Gibbifer californicus, a Pleasing Fungus Beetle in the family Erotylidae.  The family members are known as Pleasing Fungus Beetles and your specimen does not have a more specific common name.  According to BugGuide, it “Southwestern United States: Kansas, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, south into Mexico ” and “Adults feed on nectar, pollen, and some fungi. Larvae feed on fungi that are attacking wood.”

Related Posts

  1. Pleasing Fungus Beetle AKA Humpty Dumpty Erotylidae (January 20, 2006)
  2. Pleasing Fungus Beetle (July 26, 2008)
  3. Pleasing Fungus Beetle from Costa Rica (June 10, 2007)
  4. Pleasing Fungus Beetle (January 15, 2008)
  5. Pleasing Fungus Beetle from Panama (January 3, 2008)

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  1. From Day 7: Elements of the Earth Workshop (Day 3) « Christiandeleon’s Weblog on 30 Jul 2009 at 12:55 am

    [...] Since I am an amateur entomologist, I had to look it up.  Apparently, it is referred to as a Pleasing Fungus Beetle and according to Cecilia and Kim, it didn’t like cherries.  After we ate and talked, it [...]

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