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Malachius
Soft-Winged Flower Beetle. Most are elongate-oval, soft-bodied beetles 10 mm long or less. Many are brightly patterned in black and brown, yellow, or red. Some melyrids (Malachiinae) have peculiar orange structures along the sides of the abdomen, which may be everted and saclike or withdrawn into the body and inconspicuous. Some melyrids have the two basal antennomeres greatly enlarged. Most adults and larvae are predaceous, but many are common on flowers. The most common North American species belong to the genus Collops (Malachiinae); C. quadrimaculatus is reddish, with two bluish black spots on each elytron. Some Colombian and New Guinean species have been found to contain batrachotoxins, which may account for the toxicity of some frogs in those areas. Wikipedia
Abbott's Lagoon hiking trail, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California, USA
This genus is a real mess right now; and species ID is next to impossible from images alone.
Spotted on Apr 21, 2012
Submitted on Apr 23, 2012
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