beetle/moth?
I found the bug on the right floating in my pool, thought it was dead, put it on the deck to look at later. The second bug came hovering around, obviously looking for the first. We thought it was a hummingbird at first, it flies with the body down, wings flapping and antennae out straight, just like a hummingbird. It found the first, positioned and proceeded to take care of business, the first one apparently very much alive. I didn’t time the interlude, but it was more than fifteen minutes, when I returned they were both gone. They are about 2 inches long( not including antennae) and 1/2 inch wide, soft, mothlike wings, but the ‘head’ area looked hard like a beetle –I didn’t actually touch it. Any thoughts? Thanks
Lori
Granby Mass
Hi Lori,
You were correct about these lovlies being beetles. They are Eyed Elaters, a type of Click Beetle. The eyes are markings that act as a type of startle mimicry, with the beetles deceiving potential predators into thinking that they are a larger, fiercer creature than they are in reality.