#meloidae — Public Fediverse posts

A nap ízeltlábúja a bogarak hólyaghúzófélék családjába tartozó kétfoltos élősdibogár - Apalus bimaculatus https://www.izeltlabuak.hu/faj/ketfoltos-elosdibogar/talalatok #kétfoltosÉlősdibogár #ApalusBimaculatus #hólyaghúzófélék #Meloidae #bogarak #Coleoptera #CitizenScience

The thing about entomology is, there are always weirder bugs than anything you could imagine on your own.

Here's Cysteodemus wislizeni, a blister beetle from west Texas.
#Meloidae #Insects #Beetles

This Epicauta callosa blister beetle looks a little guilty, like I caught it in the act of a secret pollen heist. Texas. #Meloidae #pollinators #Insects #Epicauta

I decided to go back and see if I could find that beetle again and get more pictures, and I did!! While these beetles have potent chemical defenses in the form of caustic oil they secrete, this one was quite placid and let me get up close with the clip-on phone lenses, even crawling onto my hand at one point.

The mite mostly stayed under the beetle's chin, but occasionally ran around its head.

A passerby asked what I was looking at and I am afraid I was not the best or most observant conversationalist, as I was busy taking all the pictures I could get, but he seemed familiar with the concept of phoretic mites at least, and remarked that perhaps the mites gained some benefit or protection from the beetle's secretions.

This BugGuide observation <https://bugguide.net/node/view/31709> seems similar?

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #mites #bugstodon #insects #beetles • #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Coleoptera #Meloidae

The best thing I saw today. On and around Hawk Hill, the low hill near the café, several beautiful large _Meloe_ oil beetles were voraciously eating green vegetation. These were a prize all on their own and I took pictures of all of them. Later, at the café, I was going over the photos when I noticed one of them had something on its face!! A phoretic mesostigmatid mite!!!!!

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #mites #bugstodon #insects #beetles • #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Coleoptera #Meloidae

The inflated beetle, Cysteodemus, is one of the most recognizeable insects of the southwestern deserts. Larvae are parasites of soil-nesting bees. Anza Borrego, California.

#Beetles #Insects #Meloidae

It's kind of difficult to describe from a still photograph, but when this desert blister beetle (Pleuropasta sp.) walks forward, it looks *exactly* like a red harvester ant dragging a large seed backwards. It's a really tremendous mimic.

Photographed in Anza Borrego.

#Meloidae #Desert #Insects

Blister beetles in the genus Nemognatha have elongated mouthparts for sipping nectar. This individual was photographed in a basket flower at #UTAustin’s Stengl Lost Pines Biological Station in Texas.

#Insects #Pollinators #Nemognatha #Meloidae #Beetles

Success! #Insect #photography #Entomology #Coleoptera #Beetle #InsectPhotography #meloidae

Here's another blister beetle (Lytta sp.), which proved to be extremely challenging to photograph. It's a black beetle with black hair, black texturing, and both matte black and shiny black areas. #Insect #beetle #Coleoptera #Meloidae #Entomology #Photography

Lytta stygica (I think), a shiny green blister beetle. #Insect #Beetle #Coleoptera #Meloidae #Entomology #Photography