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Subspecies Tegrodera erosa erosa

iron cross blister beetle - Tegrodera erosa iron cross blister beetle - Tegrodera erosa Iron Cross Blister Beetle  - Tegrodera erosa One of the weirdest and biggest bugs I've ever seen.  There we dozens feeding on this groundcover (afternoon). - Tegrodera erosa Image 2 - Tegrodera erosa Unknown Beetle - Tegrodera erosa
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Tenebrionoidea
Family Meloidae (Blister Beetles)
Subfamily Meloinae
Tribe Eupomphini
Genus Tegrodera (Iron Cross Blister Beetle)
Species erosa (Tegrodera erosa)
Subspecies erosa (Tegrodera erosa erosa)
Explanation of Names
Tegrodera erosa LeConte 1851
Identification
The medial black stripe (across the middle of the elytra) that is present in the other two species of Tegrodera is much shorter (front-to-back) in T. erosa and often is reduced to small spots or absent.
Range
California: In Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego & (barely into) western San Bernardino Counties...south of the Transverse Ranges (San Gabriel & San Bernardino Mnts) and west of the Colorado Desert (Coechella Valley & Anza-Borrego).(1)
Food
Adults primarily feed on plants in the genus Eriastrum. Larval hosts unknown, but presumed parasitic on bees or other hymenoptera.(1)
Works Cited
1.A taxonomic study of the genus Tegrodera (Coleoptera: Meloidae)
Pinto J.D. 1975. The Canadian Entomologist 107: 45-66.