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Photo#8650
Beetle on bloodroot - Asclera ruficollis

Beetle on bloodroot - Asclera ruficollis
Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA
April 17, 2004
Any help will be appreciated.
A member of a large mimicry complex

Higher resolution image

False blister beetle
This might be a new family for BugGuide:-) It is a false blister beetle, family Oedemeridae. Forget which genus, and there are at least two that are very similar. Nice image!

 
Orthopedic shoes, and, possibly Asclera
Well, humility is good for all of us. Now that I am pointed in the correct direction, I can look at the correct plate (XXXVI, p. 361) in Dillon and Dillon. (1) Asclera ruficollis looks very good: "piceous, pronotum dull reda, 5-6.5 mm. Description on p. 284 gives more characters. Keying of genera in this family is very technical, but Asclera ruficollis is the only one Dillon illustrates that looks similar to your photo. For what that's worth! (I'll I'm doing is looking at pattern of the critter and comparing it to the illustrations--luckily, Eric is there as a quality control check.)

An image of Asclera ruficollis from Canada. Not very large, but looks similar to your photo.

Summary of printed illustrations, Asclera, or "False Blister Beetle":
Dillon, p. 284, plate XXXVI #9, A. ruficollis (1)
White, p. 263, fig. 113 (2)
Arnett, and Jacques, p. 277, fig. 650, A. puncticollis (3)

In case this turns out to be correct, I wrote a quick guide for Asclera.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

 
Asclera ruficollis?
Thank for all the info. Yes, Asclera ruficollis looks pretty good, including its habit of feeding on pollen of hepatica and other early spring flowers.

 
Plant id. in this photo
Since I'm a good, though sometimes erratic, amateur botanist, I wanted to venture a guess at the plant. It looks like Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis. Blooming date (early spring) is correct, and the number of petals and form of the anthers looks right. Can you confirm or refute that?

For reference: Bloodroot--good photo of open flowers.



Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

 
Bloodroot
Yes, it is bloodroot. I have photos in which I can see the distinctive leaves.

 
Asclera ruficollis?
Thank for all the info. Yes, Asclera ruficollis looks pretty good.

 
Oedemeridae
Thanks Eric.

Cantharidae?
Looks like a soldier beetle, Cantharidae. Resembles, perhaps, Podabrus. Troy has a photo of beetle that may be in that same genus:



Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

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