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Photo#110521
rust-spotted beetle - Melanophila notata

rust-spotted beetle - Melanophila notata
Everglades City, Collier County, Florida, USA
March 23, 2007
Size: 10-12 mm
Apparently a more typical (spotted) individual but otherwise similar to this one found on the same night in the same town on a nearby building.

Fires nearby?
The beetles in this genus tend to appear in numbers at forest fires, so I'm wondering if there is a blaze going on nearby.

 
I don't recall any that night
but there may have been a small fire nearby.

Below is an interesting quote from this PDF doc that mentions another possible source of attraction in addition to forest fires...

"Linsley observed both M. consputa and M. acuminata swarming at football games in Berkeley, California, and speculated that they may have been attracted to the smoke from approximately 20,000 cigarettes (Linsley, 1943)."

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