Genus Meloe - Oil Beetles

Nearctic fauna revised in (1)

Meloe Linnaeus 1758

22 spp. in our area(3), >150 total, arranged into 16 subgenera(4)

12-30 mm(2)

Hind wings absent; elytra reduced and overlap at base. Males smaller than females, with modified antennae:

Not yet in guide:

Primarily holarctic (mostly Palaearctic), with meager representation in more southern areas; throughout NA (to nw. Colombia; Hispaniola)(3)(4)

Ground or low foliage(2)

Larvae feed on eggs and other food in bees' nests(2)

In some species, triungulins aggregate and use chemical signals to attract male bees to which they attach themselves. This allows transport (and transfer) to a female bee who carries them back to her nest (Saul-Gershenz & Millar 2006).

First-instar larvae climb to the top of a plant as a group, clump together in the shape of a female solitary ground bee, exude a scent imitating the female bee pheromone. When a male bee comes and tries to mate with the clump of larvae, some of these clamp onto his hairs and eventually get to female bees when he mates for real. Impregnated female bees fly off and build nests in burrows; triungulins move to the new nests and feed on honey and pollen stocked by the bee for her own young. --Jim McClarin's comment