Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Tegrodera - Iron Cross Blister Beetle

iron cross blister beetle - Tegrodera erosa Iron Cross Blister Beetle - Tegrodera latecincta Iron Cross Blister Beetle - Tegrodera latecincta red beetle with black/yellow body - Tegrodera aloga From  Saguaro National Park West - Tegrodera aloga Need help? - Tegrodera aloga Unidentified Wasp??? - Tegrodera aloga Unidentified Wasp??? - Tegrodera aloga
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)
Genus Tegrodera (Iron Cross Blister Beetle)
Other Common Names
Soldier Blister Beetle
Numbers
Nearctica.com lists three species for North America.
Size
15-30 mm
Identification
Large blister beetles, head red, body, elytra black with raised yellow lines.
Food
In the lower Sonoran desert, T. algoa feeds on spring blossoms of Nama hispidum and Eriastrum. (1)
Print References
Werner, p. 122 (1)
Powell and Hogue, fig. 380, pp. 294-295 (2)
Internet References
Paper on Systematics of Meloidae, has image of Tegrodera mating.
T. aloga--image from Arizona
CalPhoto Image--T. latecincta, taken at Organ Pipe National Monument, Arizona
Works Cited
1.Living With Insects of the Southwest: How to Identify Helpful, Harmful and Venomous Insects
By Floyd G. Werner, Carl Olson
2.California Insects
By Jerry A. Powell, Charles L. Hogue