Subject: I can’t find the bug online anywhere!
Geographic location of the bug: Massachusetts
Date: 06/25/2018
Time: 09:28 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Hi Bugman,
I need your help identifying this bug. I have no where else to turn and I have searched for hours for an answer.
Thank you for your service
How you want your letter signed: A bug wonderer
Dear Bug Wonderer,
This is a Soldier Beetle in the family Cantharidae, and based on this BugGuide image, we believe it is Cantharis rufa. According to BugGuide: “native to, and widespread across the Palaearctic, adventive in NA (e. Canada & ne. US: NF-ON to MA-NY).” According to the family page on BugGuide: “Adults eat nectar, pollen, other insects; larvae are fluid-feeding predators, feed on insect eggs and larvae,” hence they are beneficial.