Blister Beetle + sore?
Location: Southern Missouri
May 18, 2011 10:44 pm
Daniel, I live in Southern Missouri and have recently been waking to nocturnal ”bites” that produce an intense burning sensation but no sign of an actual bite until a day or so later, when a sore appears (2nd photo). This beetle may be the culprit because it has recently shown up in our home. I can’t find it in your blister beetle archives, however. Can you help? Thanks, Bob
Signature: Robert
False Bombardier Beetle
Hi Robert,
The beetle you submitted is not a Blister Beetle, but a False Bombardier Beetle in the genus Galerita, and it is a Ground Beetle. You may read more about it on BugGuide, including the warning that “Caution: These beetles have chemical defenses (see Rossini et al. 1997)”. Following that link to the Proceedings of the National Sciences of the United States (PNAS), we learned that the spray contains formic acid and that “Formic acid is a potent irritant, deterrent to vertebrates and invertebrates alike.” Your letter specifically states you are waking to nocturnal “bites” but since bites is in quotes, it seems you have some doubt that they might actually be bites. We don’t believe the False Bombardier Beetle to be responsible for your sores, though we might be wrong. We can’t imagine that a beetle that has chemical defenses that need to be replenished would actually expend those chemicals unless it really felt threatened. False Bombardier Beetles are beneficial predators and one should avoid handling them. We are going to tag this posting as a mystery and we truly hope the False Bombardier Beetle is not the culprit, but that would mean something else is lurking between the sheets.
What Caused the Sore???
Big Green Beetle
Location: Enid, Oklahoma
May 12, 2011 3:50 pm
Hi! I found this beetle on our front porch at dusk a few nights ago. We live in Enid, OK. My son and I are wondering what type of bettle it is and what we can feed it. Would greatly appreciate your help! Thanks so much!
Signature: luvmyrorys
Fiery Searcher
Dear luvmyrorys,
This magnificent beetle is a Caterpillar Hunter known as the Fiery Searcher, Calosoma scrutator. It has a ravenous appetite and it is instrumental in keeping caterpillar populations under control. You will need to capture many caterpillars to keep it well fed and you may be better off releasing it back into the wild to fend for itself.
¶ Posted 13 May 2011 § ‡ ° Bug love
Location: Cheviot Hills, northern England
May 10, 2011 5:49 pm
Two insects of a type I’ve never seen before getting friendly. I was just wondering what they were.
Gary
Signature: kkjhkj
Mating Green Tiger Beetles
Hi Gary,
These amorous beauties are mating Tiger Beetles in the genus Cicindela, and they are most likely Cicindela campestris, commonly called the Green Tiger Beetle. We quickly located a webpage on British Biodiversity that profiles the Green Tiger Beetle and that provides this information: “They show greater diversity in the warmer parts of the world and only five species of tiger beetle are known in Britain (current British checklist of the Carabidae at http://www.coleopterist.org.uk/). Of these, four are Cicindela species, with C. campestris much the most common.
Tiger beetles constitute the subfamily Cicindelinae within the family Carabidae, or are still recognised by some authors as a separate family, the Cicindelidae. C. campestris is, like most Cicindela species, a creature of open ground, especially heathland on sandy soils in spring and early summer, locally frequent apparently in much of Britain where there is suitable habitat. It runs fast when seizing prey, or if disturbed (or if someone is chasing it in the hope of an in-focus photograph), and it will also readily fly for short distances.” In addition to England, the species is found over much of Eurasia as far East as Siberia.
Metallic Ground Beetle From China
May 3, 2011
Hello Bugman,
I spotted this beautiful baby on a bug hike last week. She (or he) was running, quickly, along a dry, concrete drainage ditch around 2:30 in the afternoon. The area where I was hiking is right at sea level. My guess is it’s some kind of ground beetle; a caterpillar hunter, maybe. But I am having trouble narrowing it down to species, especially because there seem to be very few online insect ID resources for amateurs for China and Eastern Asia. And, for obvious reasons, my Kaufman guide to North American insects can only take me so far. I would very much appreciate any help you can give. I did look through the Carabidae of the World website but did not have much luck. Thank you so much!
Best,
Marian Lyman
Ground Beetle
Hi Marian,
You are positively correct that this exquisite little metallic beauty is a Ground Beetle. Your photos have exactly the kind of details that should enable an expert with the correct resources to key it out to genus or even species level. Maybe Mardikavana will be able to assist us with this identification.
Ground Beetle
Comment
This beauty is most likely Carabus lafossei or some related species.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kqedquest/3256354127/
¶ Posted 04 May 2011 § ‡ ° Strange beetle
Location: North Syria
May 2, 2011 6:50 pm
I saw this bug in march-3-2011 at the garden of my home in Aleppo/Syria at 3:30pm
It was crawling on a quince tree .
Can you help me identify it?
Thanks!
Signature: Tamim Houary
Signature: Aleppo
Caterpillar Searcher
Dear Tamim,
Your beetle is a Ground Beetle in the family Carabidae, and we believe it is most likely one of the Caterpillar Hunters in the genus Calosoma. We actually believe this may be the Caterpillar Searcher or Forest Caterpillar Hunter, Calosoma sycophanta, a species that was introduced from Europe to North America to help control the Gypsy Moth according to BugGuide. According to the Carabidae of the World website, the natural range of the species includes Syria. Here are some notes from the Calosoma of the World website: “Notes: Winged diurnal but in some case can be attracted to light at night. It is inhabitant of both coniferous and decidous forests. Adults and larvae are excellent climbers and feed on Lymantridae and Thaumatopoeidae (Thaumatopoea pityocampa Denis & Schiffermuller, Lophirus pini Linné, Thaumetopoea processionea Linné, Lymantria dispar L., Euproctis chrysorrhoea Linné) and other caterpillars infesting trees of genera Pinus, Quercus and Fagus. Adults hunt trunks and treetops during the day and go down to the ground at around sunset and then hide in leaf litter at the foot of the trees.
Captures of active individuals have been noted from April to August. It is not rare to find specimens overwintering in small cavities in the ground.
Calosoma sycophanta is an handsome beetle that has attracted, since the first steps of entomology, the interest of entomologists. It is one of the few Carabidae represented in the volume of Aldovrandi (De Animalibus Insectis Libri septem cum singulorum Iconibus ad vivum expressis 1638: 450, fig. 6) under the name of Scarabaeus viridis. Later Reamour (Memoires pour servir a l’histoire des Insectes, vol. II, 1736: 455 and plate 37 fig. 18) has given an account of its way of life. Subsequently there have been numerous illustrations in books of this beautiful species. It can still be interesting to recall that, because of its rarity in the British Isles, Donovan (The Natural History Of British Insects, vol. XIV, 1810: pl.477) has drawn in its place the Calosoma (Calodrepa) scrutator. This error has been then corrected by Curtis (British Entomology, 1823-1840: pl.330).”
Caterpillar Searcher
¶ Posted 03 May 2011 § ‡ ° Green Metallic Flying Bug
Location: Indianapolis, IN, USA
May 1, 2011 11:34 pm
I see these bugs everywhere in the woods located within a local park. I also see them in blue metallic colors. I have never seen them anywhere other than these woods and would be interested to find out what they are.
Signature: Ashley
Six Spotted Tiger Beetle
Hi Ashley,
This beautiful predator is a Six Spotted Tiger Beetle, Cicindela sexguttata, a variable species that is most commonly sighted in the spring. You can read more about it on BugGuide.
Grubs and beetle
Location: Washington, DC
May 1, 2011 3:15 pm
I found numerous grubs and a few beetles nearby in my vegetable garden today. I wonder if they are related. Any assistance in identifying them would be appreciated.
Signature: Roy
Big Headed Ground Beetle and Scarab Grubs
Hi Roy,
Your grubs and beetle are only distantly related in that they are in the same insect order. The grubs are Scarab Grubs, most likely June Beetles, and they feed on plant roots. The Beetle is a beneficial predator, a Ground Beetle in the genus Scarites. BugGuide lists six species in the genus, and our money is on the Big Headed Ground Beetle, Scarites subterraneus, as the species. You may read about the Big Headed Ground Beetle on BugGuide.
Big Headed Ground Beetle
large beetle identified
Location: Pickering Ontario Canada
April 27, 2011 12:41 pm
Hi, I sent you a photo yesterday of a large blackish beetle with blue ”trim” that I thought might be a carrion beetle. I think I’ve now identified it as a European Ground Beetle, carabus nemoralis, and have been delighted to learn that it is a voracious eater of snails and slugs (and less happily, worms). I’ve since found several more of these big beetles in my garden, so perhaps I’ll be slug-free this year. How common is this beetle in southern-central Ontario? I’m just east of Toronto. Thanks!
Signature: Pat V.
Mating European Ground Beetles
Hi Pat,
Your letter arrived when we were out of the office on holiday, and this followup email arrived just as we returned to a very full mailbox. Alas, we are not able to respond to all the mail we received, but we are thrilled that you self identified your mating European Ground Beetles and we love your photograph. BugGuide has a nice information page on the European Ground Beetle.
¶ Posted 28 April 2011 § ‡ ° Tagged: bug love 
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