Subject: mystery bug
Location: sonoita .az
July 22, 2012 9:08 pm
well I live in sonoita arizona. and I was just walking down my path to it my pond and I noticed these 2 beetles and I don’t recognize them at all, they look like they’re wasps but I don’t know what to make of it
Signature: fletcher green
Hi Fletcher,
These are mating Oil Beetles, a group of Blister Beetles in the genus Meloe. According to BugGuide, there are at least 22 species in North America, but they all look so similar we are not capable of distinguishing one species from another. Most of our reports come from eastern states, however, BugGuide does have reports of western state sightings including this Meloe barbarus from Tuscon, Arizona.