We have a wood fence in our back yard. Every summer, a portion of it swarms with one sort of beetle. It’s between 1-2cm long, flat, and matte black in color with red stripes in a ‘V’ on its back, as well as along wing edges and under the wings (when it flies you can see a lot more red).
I may try to borrow a camera and get a picture to post later, but does anyone have any ideas? I’m not sure what they’re eating, but like I said, they seem to be living on a wood fence in a sunny spot (and on the ground by the fence). I’m in Vermont, USA.
In northern Utah, we always called these “june bugs,” and my friend’s cat Mango always liked to pounce on them and devour them with relish. After moving to Nevada as a kid, I discovered that most people don’t call them that, and that a “june bug” is something entirely different to most people.
And don’t even get me started on the whole “pill bug” vs. “roly poly” discrepancy!
[QUOTE=Eonwe]
We have a wood fence in our back yard. Every summer, a portion of it swarms with one sort of beetle. It’s between 1-2cm long, flat, and matte black in color with red stripes in a ‘V’ on its back, as well as along wing edges and under the wings (when it flies you can see a lot more red).
[/QUOTE]
Just to be clear ( and tres pedantic ) a Box Elder Bug isn’t a beetle. It’s a bug. A “true bug”, that is, as that wikipedia article notes. Beetles are in the order coleoptera.
) a Box Elder Bug isn’t a beetle. It’s a bug. A “true bug”, that is, as that wikipedia article notes. Beetles are in the order coleoptera.