Species Melanolestes picipes - Black Corsair

Black May Beetle-eater

Melanolestes abdominalis (Herrich-Schäffer 1846); Reduvius pungens LeConte 1856

Melanolestes picipes (Herrich-Schaeffer 1846)

12-20 mm(1)

Males macropterous (fully winged); female wings variable, often micropterous

e. US to Calif. (QC-FL to MN-SD-UT-CA) / Mex. to Brazil - Map (1)(2), more common in e. than w. US

Hibernates in woods and fields beneath logs. In spring & summer, found beneath stones, loose bark, piles of weeds, and other cover(3)

Sometimes attracted to lights.

Other insects. Reported to feed on May Beetles, Phyllophaga, attacking them from behind, holding on with spongy pads on legs.

Females often flightless, tend to live under logs, stones, etc. Adults overwinter under logs, in piles of weeds, etc. Males seen in open in spring. During mating, males use spongy pads on legs to mount females. Female stridulates with beak during mating. Eggs laid singly into soil beneath rocks. Males come to lights in summer.

Can inflict a painful bite but does not feed on blood and does not transmit diseases.

Reduvius personatus

- widely dist., except across southern tier of states