ENY 3005 Family Identification

Coleoptera: Meloidae

 Common name: blister beetles

Identifying characteristics for the family Meloidae include:

• First abdominal sternite entire, not divided by hind coxae (suborder Polyphaga).
• Head broad, generally rectangular when viewed from above.
• Pronotum cylindrical and narrower than both the head and base of elytra.
• Body elongate, soft and somewhat leathery.
• Antennae filiform or moniliform.
• Tarsi 5-5-4; claw either toothed or lobed.

• There are 26 genera and over 335 species of Meloidae in North America.
• Adults of most species feed on flowers or foliage, a few species being serious pests.
• Larvae of one genus are predators of grasshopper eggs. Other species live in bee nests and feed on eggs, larvae, and stored food.
• The common name blister beetle is derived from their habit of emitting a caustic fluid from leg joints and other body parts when disturbed.

Links to other web sites

• Blister Beetles
• Striped blister beetle - Epicauta vittata

• Page 184 and plate 6 in D. J. Borror and R. E. White. 1970. A Field Guide to the Insects. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Pages 270-274 and plate 6 in R. E. White. 1983. A Field Guide to Beetles of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 368 p.
• Page 446 in D. J. Borror, C. A. Triplehorn, and N. F. Johnson. 1989. An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing. 875 p.
• Page 223 in R. G. Bland and H. E. Jaques. 1978. How to Know the Insects, 3rd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co. 409 p.
• Page 479 in H. V. Daly, J. T. Doyen, and A. H. Purcell III. 1998. Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. 680 p.