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OIL BEETLES AND BLISTER BEETLES

MELOIDAE

T

he Meloidae, a widespread group of

Tenebrionoidea, have some of the most

intricate life histories of any beetles. In the genus

Meloe, for example, the female lays hundreds of

eggs that quickly hatch into small active larvae

called “triungulins,” which climb up onto flowers,

where they wait for a pollinating insect to arrive. If

the pollinator is a solitary bee of the correct species

(the host species of the Meloe beetle in question),

they will climb onto it and be carried back to its

nest, where they will kill the egg or larva of the bee

and feed on the supplies that have been stored for

the bee larva’s development. During this process

they molt into a large helpless larva that is entirely

dependent on the food stored by the bee. If the

triungulins attach to the wrong species of bee, or to

a wasp or beetle, they will probably starve to death,

so the Meloe depends on large bee populations of

the correct species in order to survive. As a result,

they are never common, but their triungulins may

family

Meloidae

known species

3,000

distribution

Worldwide except Antarctica, especially in

warm, dry places

habitat

Most habitats, but most common in savanna

with abundant potential hosts

size

10–60 mm

diet

Larvae may be “kleptoparasites,” killing

a host larva and feeding on the supplies

provisioned for it. Others feed on

grasshopper egg cases. Adults feed

on nectar, or flowers or small leaves

MELOIDAE—Oil Beetles and Blister Beetles

right | Horia debyi

This striking

species from the

Asian tropics, in

this case Borneo,

develops in the

nests of Carpenter

Bees (Xylocopa spp.)