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BUG OF THE MONTH APRIL 2009: Master Blister Beetle

Long, bright orange beetle with black wings
Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 4:12 PM
I found a bunch of these orange and black beetles while airsofting in Arizona and I am not exactly sure what they are. They were in large groups in the grassy areas crawling on eachother. Is it a type of desert beetle?
JKAZ
Arizona, United States

master blisters jkaz 300x189 BUG OF THE MONTH APRIL 2009: Master Blister Beetle

Master Blister Beetles

Hi JKAZ,
Every year in the spring, we get numerous inquiries about Blister Beetles, especially from the desert areas of the Southwest. When Blister Beetles appear, it is often in prodigious numbers, and then suddenly, they vanish. This is a Master Blister Beetle, Lytta magister. It is well represented on BugGuide. This is one of the largest of the Blister Beetles. The adults eat foliage, flowers, pollen and fruit, and according the BugGuide: “Larvae live in bee nests.” Some species of Blister Beetles feed on grasshopper eggs. The beetles in the family Meloidae are known as Blister Beetles because they secrete hemolymph (blood) from their joints when handled, and the hemolymph contains cantharidin which can cause blisters. A European relative is the infamous Spanish Fly. Congratulations on having your letter and image chosen as our Bug of the Month for April 2009.


Posted 30 March 2009 § Blister Beetles ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Darkling Beetle from Argentina

Tenebrionidae from Argentina
Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 4:24 AM
HI!
I´m sending a couple of pictures from Scotobius milliaris, Family Tenebrionidae. I´ve taken them in San Antonio Oeste, Río Negro, Patagonia.
This is a common species living in central Argentina, but expandig its distribution to cities in Patagonia, where you can find it only in garden´s houses. It is easy to see adult – larva under fallen leaves and walking on the grass. Some call them “catanguitas”.
I believe there aren´t any picture of this species on the web yet.
Hugs
Mirta

darkling argentina mirta 228x300 Darkling Beetle from Argentina

Darkling Beetle

Hi again Mirta,
Thanks for allowing What’s That Bug? to be the first site to picture this lovely Darkling Beetle in the family Tenebrionidae.  It resembles our Southern California Ironclad Beetle.  We have been so busy with work and our new aquarium that we have been a bit lax in posting new submissions, only about one or two a day at the moment.

darkling argentina mirta 2 275x300 Darkling Beetle from Argentina

Darkling Beetle

Posted 24 March 2009 § Darkling and Ironclad Beetles ‡ Comments (0) °

Glowworm Larva or Railroad Worm

Black with orange spot… not a centipede
Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 6:11 PM
Hi I found this interesting specimen in George Washington national park located in Staunton Virginia. I have never seen anything like it and have been camping there for about ten years. I was hoping you would be able to ID it for me as it’s a very interesting and colorful insect. I thank you for your time and effort… I love your site and have used it extensively to satisfy my curiosity about bugs…
Thanks!!
David Barton
Staunton Virginia

glowworm david 300x177 Glowworm Larva or Railroad Worm

Glowworm

Dear David,
What a positively magnificent Glowworm Larva you have photographed. it is in the family Phengodidae. There is an identical specimen posted on BugGuide that was photographed in North Carolina. It is unfortunate that you didn’t have the opportunity to see it glowing a luminescent green in the dark.  Glowworms are also known as Railroad Worms.

glowworm bic david 300x224 Glowworm Larva or Railroad Worm

Glowworm

Posted 22 March 2009 § Fireflies and Glowworms ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Longicorn from Uruguay

Longhorn Beetle?
Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 5:59 AM
I came upon this sunbathing beetle on March 2 while walking along the beach just west of Colonia, Uruguay. The beach was along the River Plate, just across from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I was wondering if it was indigenous or perhaps had washed ashore from a passing freighter.
Patrick J.McNamara
Real de San Carlos, Uruguay

longicorn uruguay 300x200 Longicorn from Uruguay

Longhorned Borer Beetle

Dear Patrick,
You are correct. This is a Longhorn Borer Beetle or Longicorn in the family Cerambycidae. We doubt it fell off of a freighter and suspect it is native. We don’t recognize the species, but perhaps one of our readers will write in with a correct identification.

Update: from Eric Eaton
Sun, 22 Mar 2009
Daniel:
Oh, and I’m fairly confident the Uroguayan longhorned beetle is a species of Trachyderes. Sure looks like it anyway.
Eric

Update:
Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 7:05 AM
Hi Bugman:
Good call Eric. It looks like Retrachydes (=Trachyderes) thoracicus. The Argentinean link has an excellent photo about ¾ of the way down. Regards.
Karl
http://www.cerambycoidea.com/foto.asp?Id=197
http://www.argentinean-insects.com/cerambycidae.htm

Thanks Eric,
We will link to the Texas Beetle Information page since there is one member of the genus found in the U.S., Trachyderes mandibularis, the Long Jawed Longhorn Beetle, though it is not the same species.

Posted 21 March 2009 § Longhorn Beetles ‡ Comments (0) °

Hermit Flower Beetle

Rain Beetle Photo?
Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 10:41 AM
My son and I came across this large beetle on a tree in our yard. We live in Southwest Minnesota. I tried to send it to you last fall when we found it but received no reply. I believe it is a rain beetle.
Vonda Talsma
Minnesota

hermit flower beetle vonda 300x199 Hermit Flower Beetle

Hermit Flower Beetle

Hi Vonda,
While we are sorry we didn’t answer you in the fall, the reality of the situation is that we are unable to answer all of our mail.  We believe this is a Hermit Flower Beetle, Osmoderma eremicola.  According to BugGuide, it is also called the Odor of Leather Beetle because of the resemblance to the smell of Russian Leather.  BugGuide indicates:  “Adults take fruit juices and sugary liquids in captivity” and “Found in rotten logs, so presumably larvae are decomposers. Adults nocturnal, found in woodlands and orchards. Adults come to lights.”

hermit flower beetle vonda 2 300x207 Hermit Flower Beetle

Hermit Flower Beetle

Posted 21 March 2009 § Scarab Beetles ‡ Comments (0) °

Earth Boring Dung Beetle

Rhinoceros Beetle
Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 9:28 AM
Hello Again!
Found this little guy struggling in a pool, a few months back. I assume he’s some species of Rhinoceros beetle (what else could you call it?). Fairly small – from memory, I’d say just about 1/2″ long, no larger (sorry no size reference in the photo).
Found in Santa Cruz Mountains, Los Gatos CA
Out of curiosity, is there an ideal size photo for submissions? OK if I send you a full-size 8 MB file of some critter in the future?
Cheers!
NewtHunterDave
Santa Cruz Mountains CA

dung beetle horned california 300x253 Earth Boring Dung Beetle

Earth Boring Dung Beetle

Dear NewtHunterDave,
We believe this is a Dung Beetle. Dung Beetles and Rhinoceros Beetles are both Scarab Beetles. Males in the genus Phanaeus, known as Rainbow Scarabs, have horns. BugGuide shows a species, Phanaeus amithaon, from Arizona, but we are not convinced this is your species. We also located a BioOne Online Journal posting, Copyright © 1997 William Ericson ,on a new species from Sonora Mexico, Phanaeus yecoraensis, and the detail photos resemble your specimen as well. The horn on your specimen is quite distinctive. We will seek assistance from Eric Eaton on this identification. Regarding the image size, both the Salamander image and Dung Beetle image you sent that we posted were ideal. Since our site migration last September, our site has the option of clicking on the image to see a larger version. We post no larger than 800 pixels wide by 550 pixels high at 72 dpi, and the program selects the ideal thumbnail to display. We prefer larger images so we can crop and resize to maximize what our site offers.

Cool!
I’ll include a couple other photos of this guy from different perspectives in case that helps with the ID.
(Although, for my purposes, ‘dung beetle with a horn’ is probably close enough!)
Also, for what it’s worth, he was shiny, but I didn’t notice any sort of iridescent or metallic/rainbow effects on this beetle.  If I had, I would have tried hard to capture that in a pic.
Thanks!
NewtHunterDave

dung beetle horn ca top 300x236 Earth Boring Dung Beetle

Earth Boring Dung Beetle

Update: Freom Eric Eaton
Hi, Daniel:
Sun, 22 Mar 2009
One I actually recognize! LOL! It is one of the “earth-boring scarabs” in the family Geotrupidae. The species is Odonteus obesus. The specimen is a male. There are some nice images on Bugguide, but we could use a few more if the submitter wants to post there. Thanks.
Eric

Thanks Eric,
Since all the specimens on BugGuide are mounted, we will ask NewtHunterDave to post his beautiful live images.

Posted 21 March 2009 § Scarab Beetles ‡ Comments (0) °

Heiroglyphic Moth and Unknown Longicorn Beetle from Costa Rica

Two insects – not sure what class or?
Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 3:20 PM
I am sending two photographs of insects I have seen here in Costa Rica but each one only once. I’m not even sure whether I am dealing with bugs, beetles, or? I want to post the photos to a site trying to build a world insect identification guide, but can’t post until I know what I’m posting. The long silvery insect is quite lovely, I think. The other was a photo taken with a flash at night in the rain as I was getting off a bus in San Vito, Costa Rica. The yellow, black, white, and I think blue insect could be a beetle but . . . Definitely rural or forest insects to be found in the highlands of southern Costa Rica.
Mary B. Thorman
San Vito, Coto Brus, Costa Rica

heiroglyphic moth costarica mary 300x287 Heiroglyphic Moth and Unknown Longicorn Beetle from Costa Rica

Heiroglyphic Moth

Hi Mary,
The flash photo is of a Heiroglyphic Moth, Diphthera festiva, a species we have posted previously to What’s That Bug? and also found on the Featured Creatures website.  The Heiroglyphic moth is an Owlet Moth in the family Noctuidae that is encountered in Florida as well as the tropical regions of Central America.  Your other insect is a Longhorned Borer Beetle or Longicorn in the family Cerambycidae.  We haven’t the time to research the exact species, but perhaps one of our readers will have the answer and submit a comment or a letter.

bycid costarica unknown mary 300x225 Heiroglyphic Moth and Unknown Longicorn Beetle from Costa Rica

Unknown Costa Rican Cerambycid

Posted 17 March 2009 § Longhorn Beetles § Owlet Moths ‡ Comments (0) °

Tortoise Beetle: face of Darth Vader

Darth Vader beetle
Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 6:52 AM
Hello fellow bug-nuts.
Just for fun:
Does this tortoise beetle remind you of a certain Star Wars character?
From my garden in Central Minnesota last summer.
Don Dindorf
St. Augusta, MN

tortoise beetle don 229x300 Tortoise Beetle: face of Darth Vader

Anthropomorphized Tortoise Beetle

Dear Don,
There has long been a tendency for humans to anthropomorphize rocks, clouds, and even darkened spots on tortillas, and this tendency is probably what lead primitive humans to begin making primitive art.  We are thoroughly amused by your perception of the countenance of Darth Vader on the elytra of this Tortoise Beetle.  Thanks for sharing your observation.

Posted 13 March 2009 § Leaf Beetles ‡ Comments (0) °

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