Other Common Names
Hogweed Bonking Beetle (why? - see
photo)
Size
body length 7-10 mm; female larger than male
Identification
Adult: elytra orange basally, shading to brown distally, and terminating in black tips; head and pronotum orangish-red, pronotum as wide as elytra posteriorly, narrower anteriorly; antennae long, black, except for basal segment; tip of abdomen extends slightly beyond elytra; underside orangish-red; femora orangish-red, tibiae slightly darker, tarsi blackish
Range
well-established in British Columbia and Quebec [Pat Bouchard]; recently recorded in Ontario from BugGuide photos
here and
here
native to Eurasia; introduced to North America some time ago
Habitat
fields, meadows, hedgerows; adults often found on flowerheads of herbaceous plants during the day
Food
adults feed on small insects that visit flowers
larvae feed on snails, slugs, and ground-dwelling insects
Life Cycle
one generation per year; overwinters as a larva
Remarks
very common and widespread in Europe, with many photos on the Internet
(examples:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6)
page creation based on
Pat Bouchard's identification of
this imageSee Also
other species of Rhagonycha lack black-tipped elytra and/or other color and size characteristics described above
the images shown from Quebec
here are of this species, not
Rhagonycha excavata, which is smaller (5-6 mm) and has black elytra
Internet References
live adult images plus common name reference [Common Red Soldier Beetle] and brief overview (wikipedia.org)
live adult image by Roger Key, plus common name reference [Common Red Soldier Beetle] and brief overview (English Nature, plantpress.com, UK)
narrated video of adults crawling on flowers (biocrawler.com, Germany)
common name reference [Hogweed Bonking Beetle] (United Nations Environmental Program)
Contributed by
Robin McLeod on 4 December, 2006 - 5:48pm
Last updated 4 December, 2006 - 7:24pm
