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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Water, Rove, Scarab, Longhorn, Leaf and Snout Beetles (Polyphaga) » Fungus, Bark, Darkling and Blister Beetles (Tenebrionoidea) » Blister Beetles (Meloidae) » Meloinae » Lytta

Genus Lytta

Classification · Pronunciation · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Works Cited

Red Eared Blister Beetles - Lytta auriculata - male - female

Lytta nuttallii ? - Lytta nuttalli - male - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Longhorn, Leaf and Snout Beetles)

Superfamily Tenebrionoidea (Fungus, Bark, Darkling and Blister Beetles)

Family Meloidae (Blister Beetles)

Subfamily Meloinae

Genus Lytta

Pronunciation

lit'-uh (lĭt'-ə)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Lytta Fabricius, 1775

Explanation of Names

From Greek lytta, lyssa (λυττα, λυσσα) 'madness, rage'(1)(2); refers to the toxic properties of these beetles.

Numbers

50 spp. in our area(3), 69 in the Nearctic Region(4); 3 spp. in the northeast (L. aenea, L. sayi, L. unguicularis)(5)

Size

7-27 mm

Identification

Similar to Epicauta, but lack patch of hair on underside of front femur (6) and have submoniliform antennae (7):

while Epicauta has more thread-like antennae:

Range

more diverse in w. US(4)

Food

Adults eat foliage, flowers, pollen, and fruit. In the East they often show a preference for fruit trees and other members of the family Rosaceae.

Life Cycle

Larvae live in bee nests (6)

See Also

Epicauta

Works Cited

1.	Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms By Donald J. Borror

2.	The Century Dictionary: an encyclopedic lexicon of the English language

3.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico By Ross H. Arnett

4.	American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea By Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.)

5.	The Beetles of Northeastern North America, Vol. 1 and 2. By Downie, N.M., and R.H. Arnett

6.	Peterson Field Guides: Beetles By Richard E. White

7.	A Manual of Common Beetles of Eastern North America By Dillon, Elizabeth S., and Dillon, Lawrence

Contributed by Joel Kits on 24 March, 2005 - 12:12pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Stephen Cresswell, v belov
Last updated 22 March, 2010 - 3:32am

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