Beetle with babies
Location: Hudson Valley NY
November 8, 2011 3:49 pm
Found this during the freak October snowstorm. This was during a power outage so I had to light it with a flashlight, otherwise I would have had better pictures.
What is it? Have never seen one before. It was a beautiful glossy black.
Signature: Bugged in NY
Dear Bugged in NY,
Your letter probably deserves much more research than we have the time for right now, so we will be brief. These are not baby beetles. They are Mites, and we suspect they are phoretic Mites that are using the beetle as a means of transportation to get from one food source to another. The beetle is a Clown Beetle in the genus Hololepta. You can view BugGuide for additional information on Clown Beetles. Earlier this year, we received another image of a Clown Beetle with Phoretic Mitesand the Mites were identified as “Neolobogynium americana (family Diplogyniidae). Adults are phoretic on Hololepta beetles.”
