Blister beetle

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Blister beetle
Temporal range: Cenomanian–Recent
Hycleus lugens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Infraorder: Cucujiformia
Superfamily: Tenebrionoidea
Family: Meloidae
Gyllenhaal, 1810
Subfamilies

Eleticinae
Meloinae
Nemognathinae
Tetraonycinae

at Mumbai

Blister beetles are

predators
.

Description

Ivy bee (Colletes hederae), carrying parasitic triungulins of Stenoria analis

Blister beetles are

kleptoparasite. The adults sometimes feed on flowers and leaves of plants of such diverse families as the Amaranthaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Solanaceae.[citation needed
]

Female margined blister beetle pursued by multiple males.

Cantharidin, a poisonous chemical that causes blistering of the skin, is secreted as a defensive agent. It is used medically to remove warts

Lytta vesicatoria
, better known as "Spanish fly".

Toxicity

Cantharidin is the principal irritant in "Spanish fly", a folk medicine prepared from dried beetles in the family Meloidae.

The largest genus, Epicauta, contains many species toxic to horses. A few beetles consumed in a single feeding of alfalfa hay may be lethal.[2] In semiarid areas of the western United States, modern harvesting techniques may contribute to cantharidin content in harvested forage. The practice of hay conditioning, crushing the stalks to promote drying, also crushes any beetles present and causes the release of cantharidin into the fodder. Blister beetles are attracted to alfalfa and weeds during bloom. Reducing weeds and timing harvests before and after bloom are sound management practices. Using equipment without hay conditioners may reduce beetle mortality and allow them to escape before baling.[3]

Evolutionary history

The family is thought to have begun diversifying during the Early Cretaceous. The oldest fossil of the group is a larva (triangulin) found phoretic on a schizopterid bug from the mid Cretaceous Burmese amber, dated to around 99 million years ago.[4]

Systematics

Subfamily Eleticinae

Tribe Derideini

Tribe Morphozonitini

Tribe Eleticini

Tribe Spasticini

Subfamily Meloinae

Epicauta pennsylvanica
(Meloinae: Epicautini)
Cysteodemus armatus near Ridgecrest, California in the Mojave Desert: The white coating is cuticular wax, which can vary from white to yellow in this species [1].

Tribe Cerocomini

Tribe Epicautini

Tribe Eupomphini

Lytta vesicatoria
(Meloinae: Lyttini) can be safely handled, provided the animal is not startled, and allowed to move around freely. Otherwise, painful poisonings may occur.
thorax
.
Mylabris quadripunctata (Meloinae: Mylabrini)

Tribe Lyttini

Tribe Meloini

Tribe Mylabrini

A yellow-and-black species of Actenodia, one of many known in South Africa as "CMR beetle"

Tribe Pyrotini

Genera incertae sedis

Subfamily Nemognathinae

Horia sp. from Bannerghatta (Bangalore)
Sitaris muralis (Nemognathinae: Sitarini)

Tribe Horiini

Tribe Nemognathini

Tribe Sitarini

Genera incertae sedis

Subfamily Tetraonycinae

Tribe Tetraonycini

See also

References

  1. ISBN 1-84184-240-0
    .
  2. ^ University of Arizona VDL Blister Beetle Poisoning in Horses Archived July 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ University of Colorado Extension Blister Beetles in Forage Crops Archived 2015-01-10 at the Wayback Machine
  4. S2CID 83047456
    .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Meloidae.
Wikispecies has information related to Meloidae.
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