Frison’s soldier beetle

Frison’s soldier beetle is a medium-sized, soft-bodied, soldier beetle. It occurs in North America in the Midwest, from Ontario and Ohio in the east to Minnesota and Arkansas in the west. It is considered “not uncommon,” meaning that it occurs too frequently to be considered uncommon, bot not frequently enough to be considered common.

Adults are ¼″ to ⅜″ long. The body is elongated, slender, and somewhat flattened, and has nearly parallel sides.

The head is much wider than the exoskeletal plate covering the thorax (pronotum). It is visible from above, not completely concealed by the pronotum. It is black above, yellow in front around the bases of the antennae. The mouth parts (mandibles) are yellowish and are directed forward. The antennae have eleven segments. They are long, thread-like, and dark brown. On the female, the tip of the abdomen has three lobes.

The pronotum is black with yellow margins. It is slightly wider than long and almost rectangular, with parallel sides, arced front margin, and wavy rear margin. It is flat above and has a broad, shallow, horse-shoe shaped depression near the middle of the base.

The wing covers (elytra) are leathery, flexible, and black, with bright, orangish-yellow tips. They are short, about twice as long as the pronotum, and cover less than half of the abdomen. The hind wings are black and long, but do not completely cover the abdomen.

The legs are long, slender, and mostly brownish-yellow. On the middle leg, the outer half of the third segment (femur) is black. On the hind leg, the tip of the femur and the entire fourth segment (tibia) are black. The end part of each leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, has 5 segments. The fourth segment has a lobe on the underside. On the middle and hind legs, the tarsi are black.

Total length: ¼″ to ⅜″

Prairies

Mid-June to late July

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Alfredo Colon
8/5/2018

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota