Subject: Appears to be a Beatle like
Location: Phoenix Arizona
May 8, 2013 9:09 pm
Found this in the back yard over and inch close to two inch. Yesterday so season is late spring. Location is Gilbert Arizona. So just outside of Phoenix.
Signature: SMC

Iron Cross Blister Beetle

Dear SMC,
This is our first Iron Cross Blister Beetle sighting this spring.  Each spring we get several identification requests from Arizona for this distinctively colored and marked beetle.

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Subject: Fence Post Beetle
Location: Ola, Idaho
April 29, 2013 10:24 pm
Here is a photo of a beetle I spotted on a fence post. It seemed like these were quite common in the area; most wooden fence posts had one or two of these lounging about. This was taken at an altitude of about 4000 feet in late April near Ola, Idaho. If need be I have about ten more good photos of this type of beetle.
Signature: Buck Rekow

Blister Beetle:  Tricrania stansburyi

Hi Buck,
Alas, we are zero for two with your requests this morning.  We love your photographs.  Our initial thought is that this might be a Checkered Beetle in the family Cleridae, but we are not certain.  Our initial search did not turn up any matches and we must leave to go to work.  Perhaps one of our readers will be able to provide an ID in our absence.

Correction:  Blister Beetle
Thanks to a correction by Tenodera, we have now come to the conclusion that this is a Blister Beetle, Tricrania stansburyi, and this can be verified on BugGuide.

If you enjoy the photos, here are two more of the beetle. One gives a clearer view of the mandibles. If the quality is not great enough, you can discard them.

Blister Beetle

Thanks so much for the additional photos.

Blister Beetle

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Subject: what kind of bug is this ?
Location: Telferner Texas
April 23, 2013 8:24 am
I found this bug at work and have never seen one before i would like to know what it is.
Signature: Kimberly wright

Striped Blister Beetle

Dear Kimberly,
This is a Striped Blister Beetle, Epicauta vittata.  According to the Featured Creatures website:  “Striped blister beetle is one of the most damaging of the blister beetles to vegetable crops in areas where it occurs. This is due to its feeding preferences, which include several common crops and greater preference for foliage than some other species; its propensity to feed on fruits of solanaceous plants; its relatively large size and voracious appetite; its strong tendency to aggregate into large mating and feeding swarms; and its high degree of dispersiveness, which can result in sudden appearance of large swarms of beetles. It also has been implicated in the transmission of bean pod mottle virus to soybean.”  Like other members of the Blister Beetle family, the Striped Blister Beetle should not be handled as it can release a substance, cantharidin, that is know to cause blistering in human skin.

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Subject: Beetle With Ribbons on Back
Location: Austin, TX
March 27, 2013 11:22 am
This bug was near a live oak tree, March 2013 in Austin, TX
Signature: Steven Landry

Identified. Yellow Crescent Blister Beetle. Thanks

Yellow Crescent Blister Beetle

Hi Steven,
We were browsing through the Blister Beetle pages on BugGuide before stumbling upon the Yellow Crescent Blister Beetle, Pyrota insulata, because we didn’t realize you had already identified it.  According to BugGuide:  “Adults feed on nectar, mostly Honey Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) though also observed on Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccafolium) and probably others” and “Attracted to lights, occasionally in large numbers.”  Greg Lasley Nature PHotography has a nice series of photos of a Yellow Crescent Blister Beetle on Lupine.  We find your cropping odd, but vaguely amusing.  Since we will be away from the office for several days, we are postdating your submission to go live in our absence. 

Lol! Thanks. I cropped it that way to try to get google image search to match the bug and not the wood planks!

We hope it will give our readers a laugh or at least a smile on April Fool’s Day.

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Subject: What is this insect-Baja California
Location: 8 miles north of town of San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico
March 27, 2013 3:25 pm
We just visited our property in San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico and their were swarms of these bugs all over our property. They didn’t seem harmful. They were snacking on any new green foliage in the desert. I’ve been going down there for several years and have never seen these. They are quite large, maybe an inch and one-half long. Golden wings. Their were some on their own, but mostly on the ground in clusters. I suppose that had to do with the vegetation they were eating. I moved some around and they didn’t try to sting or bite.
Signature: Baja Barb

Iron Cross Blister Beetles

Dear Baja Barb,
These are Iron Cross Blister Beetles in the genus Tegrodera.  There are several species in the genus and we have difficulty distinguishing one from the other.  According to BugGuide:  “species closely related, separable by minor but consistent differences of adult anatomy.”  BugGuide also notes that:  “each sp. associated with different plant communities” and “Eriastrum is an important food source for all adults.”  All Blister Beetles should be handled with care as they are able to secrete a compound known as cantharidin that can cause skin to blister.

Iron Cross Blister Beetle

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Subject: What is this?
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico
February 9, 2013 1:02 pm
This landed on a chair in my garden (I live in Guadalajara, Mexico). Very pretty – did not seem too bothered by a camera being close. Big black pincers at the front. Did not appear aggressive.
Signature: Phil

Big Eared Blister Beetle

Hi Phil,
This is a Big Eared Blister Beetle, Cissites auriculata, or another species in the genus.  According to BugGuide, its range is:  ” W. and S. TX / Mexico south to Costa Rica / Bahamas & Puerto Rico.  Only recently recorded from the US. (Lewis 2004).”  BugGuide also indicates it:  “Parasitizes carpenter bees, Xylocopa spp.”  

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Subject: Beetle Identification
Location: Toronto, Ontario, CA
December 26, 2012 12:33 pm
Hello, I found a beetle on a Goldenrod plant on the flower in late Summer. I have tried identifying it myself, but it was not in my two insect field guides, nor was it in the internet. It’s head and abdomen looked similar to Blister Beetles and Oil Beetles, so I did some researching on them. Nothing the same. The closest one was the Margined Blister Beetle, but instead of lines on the perimeter of the elytra, there were blotches on the top instead. After all the researching with no results, I began to think it was a new species of insect. The beetle was approximately two centimeters in length. I found it in Etobicoke, Toronto. The Goldenrod it was found on was just outside a small dirt trail in a large field with small shrubs and almost no trees where few people walk. That day, there were hundreds of Locust Borers out on the Goldenrods as well. Please help, for I have been looking for this beetle’s identity for 5 months now. Thank you!!
Signature: Isaac R.

Blister Beetle

Dear Isaac,
Thank you for sending a larger resolution image.  That 9K file was very tiny.  We agree that this is a Blister Beetle, and while we cannot provide you with a species, we believe you were very close with the Margined Blister Beetle guess.  It is our opinion that this Blister Beetle, which may have coloration that is an anomaly, is also in the genus Epicauta.  You can see many species represented on BugGuide that look very similar to your beetle.

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