Subject: Mystery beetle in our house
Location: Seattle, WA
March 21, 2016 10:35 pm
Hello,
I am hoping you can help identify these black orange beetles that suddenly appeared in our house. We’re not sure who they are or where they came from. They appeared recently (March) and can be found on walls, furniture, or ceilings. Thank you!
PS> the one in the photo got squished a little during the capture 🙁
Signature: Kira

Checkered Beetle

Dear Kira,
We believe we have correctly identified your Checkered Beetle as Enoclerus cupressi based on this BugGuide image.  The genus page on BugGuide states the habitat is “Woodland; found under bark, in galls, around woody plants, rarely on foliage” and the food is “Both larvae and adults are generally predacious. Some adults feed on pollen, some species are attracted to carrion and ‘stored animal products.'”  Since you have found numbers of them in your home, we suspect they may be feeding on a dead animal in the walls or perhaps some “stored animal products” are the cause of their appearance.  The Checkered Beetles are not a problem, but their presence may be a symptom of something that may need attention.

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Subject: What is this bug.
Location: Ontario, Canada
November 17, 2015 12:17 pm
We have found a couple of these in our house… wondering what it is
Signature: Krysten

Checkered Beetle

Dear Krysten,
We believe this is a Checkered Beetle in the family Cleridae, but we are unable to find a visual match on BugGuide.  It somewhat resembles the Red Bellied Clerid, Enoclerus nigripes rufiventris, pictured on Birding New Burnswick or Enoclerus sphegeus pictured on Bold Systems Taxonomy.  Heading back to BugGuide, we found the latter to be listed as the Red Bellied Clerid.  We will contact Eric Eaton to get his opinion.

Eric Eaton Confirms Checkered Beetle Identification
Hi, Daniel:
Yes, a checkered beetle in the genus Enoclerus.  Not sure of the species.  Jacques Rifkind is an expert on these but I forget how to get in touch with him.
Eric

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Subject: beetles
Location: southern BC, Canada
June 1, 2015 2:24 pm
I am sending 2 pictures of 2 different beetles I have found in the last 2 days. The turquoise/yellow obe was on my peonies and the other one was in the grass.
Signature: Jessica

Ornate Checkered Beetle

Dear Jessica,
Because your two beetles must be categorized differently, we are splitting our response into two distinct postings.  We are thrilled to be able to post your image of an Ornate Checkered Beetle, Trichodes ornatus, which we identified on BugGuide.  The members of the family, according to BugGuide, are:  “predaceous on other insects, larvae mostly on wood- and cone-borers; some adults feed on pollen; a few species are scavengers.”  According to iNaturalist:  “Larvae live in bee nests of mostly Megachilidae family species[2] and are parasitic. While in the nest they feed on the bees’ larvae or pollen. When they mature into an adult they begin feeding on yarrow, milkweed, and other plants of yellow colouration. The species males are 5–11 millimetres (0.20–0.43 in) long while females are 7–15 millimetres (0.28–0.59 in).” 

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