Subject: Unidentified beetle
Geographic location of the bug: Winnipeg mb Canada
Date: 08/07/2019
Time: 06:32 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: I took this photo June 24,2019, there is a interpretative centre where I took the pic with research material and I looked online and cannot identify it, The closest I found was a Festive Tiger Beetle but no where close enough. I spoke to an entomologist still no luck. Any assistance will be appreciated. Thank you
How you want your letter signed: Steve Baxter
Dear Steve,
Your images are positively gorgeous, and they beautifully represent this Nuttall’s Blister Beetle, Lytta nuttalli, which is pictured on BugGuide. According to BugGuide: “Adults feed on legumes” and the flower in your image does look to us like a legume. Blister Beetles in the family Meloidae should be handled with caution as many species can exude hemolymph containing the blistering compound cantharidin. The infamous aphrodesiac Spanish Fly is produced by crushing the bodies of a Spanish Blister Beetle.
