American Oil Beetle

Description:

Sluggish or flightless, American oil beetles can be found crawling on the ground or feeding on buttercups. They occur in a variety of habitats, including deciduous woodlands and mixed forests. Adults are active year-round but are most common on spring days. Larvae lie in wait on flowers, latch onto visiting bees, and hitchhike back to the nest, where they feed on bee larvae. dull or slightly shiny black, sometimes with metallic blue reflections, short, overlappiing elytra expos bloated abdomen (7 - 17 mm) Family meloidae

Habitat:

Range: Southern Ontario, Nebraska south to Texas and east to Connecticut and Gulf coast states.