Master blister beetle
The master blister beetle is a striking desert beetle with a bright red head, red legs and black wing cases. In spring huge crowds of them appear in the deserts of the southwestern United States. It is easy to spot, but better not to pick up.
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Fun facts
In spring you can see them in big swarms in the Mojave and Colorado deserts.
The mother lays her eggs in holes in the desert soil.
Its larvae can live just on the food that bees store in their nests.
Its bright red and black colours make it stand out against the desert sand.
Most asked questions about Master blister beetle
?What does the master blister beetle eat?
The adults eat brittlebush flowers and leaves. The larvae eat food from bee nests.
?How big is the master blister beetle?
About 1.6 to 3.3 centimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Lytta magister
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Meloidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Meloidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Desert blister beetle
Where the facts come from
- Lytta magister (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Rockpocket. CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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