Say blister beetle

(Lytta sayi)

Conservation Status
Say blister beetle
Photo by Brandon Carlsness
  IUCN Red List

not listed

 
  NatureServe

not listed

 
  Minnesota

not listed

 
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Say blister beetle is an early season, medium-sized, blister beetle. It occurs in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada from Nova Scotia to Maryland west to Ontario and Minnesota. An isolated population in Wyoming and South Dakota suggests that at one time in the distant past there was a westward expansion followed by a contraction to its current range.

Adults are soft-bodied, elongated, and ½ to (13 to 22 mm) in length. The population in the eastern United States and in Canada is mostly metallic greenish-blue, sometimes varying to bluish-green or pure green. The population in the Midwest, including Minnesota, is mostly pure bright green, often with a brassy sheen. The Wyoming population is dark bluish-green.

The head is broad, triangular, and ant-like. It is very finely pitted, appearing satiny. The neck is short. The mouthparts are directed downwards. The upper lip (labrum) is notched, but the notch is not deep and does not extend to the middle. The antennae are bead-like and have eleven segments. The male has longer antennae than the female. Each antennal segment is slightly longer than wide.

The exoskeletal plate covering the thorax (pronotum) is bell-shaped and about as wide as long. It is narrower than the head and narrower than the base of the wing covers (elytra).

The elytra are soft, leathery, and essentially hairless. They are fully developed, covering most of the abdomen.

The legs are long. The third segment (femur) is mostly orange, black just at the tip. On the male the femur is not contorted. The fourth segment (tibia) is also mostly orange, black just at the base and the tip. There is a pair of short spurs at the tip of each tibia. The last part of the leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, is black. The tarsi on the front and middle legs each have five segments, while those on the hind legs have only four segments. There is a pair of claws at the end of each tarsus.

 
     
 

Size

 
 

½ to (13 to 22 mm) long

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
     
     
 
Habitat
 
 

 

 
     
 
Biology
 
 

Season

 
 

Mid-May to late July, but few records after June

 
     
 

Behavior

 
 

 

 
     
 

Life Cycle

 
 

 

 
     
 

Larva Food

 
 

 

 
     
 

Adult Food

 
 

Flowers of willow, rose, and locust

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82.

Bionomics, systematics and phylogeny of Lytta, a genus of blister beetles (Coleoptera: Meloidae). Selander, R.B. 1960. Illinois Biological Monographs, No. 28, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL.

 
  6/12/2022      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

 

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
 

Order

Coleoptera (beetles)  
 

Suborder

Polyphaga (water, rove, scarab, long-horned, leaf, and snout beetles)  
 

Infraorder

Cucujiformia  
 

Superfamily

Tenebrionoidea (darkling beetles and allies)  
 

Family

Meloidae (blister beetles)  
 

Subfamily

Meloinae  
 

Tribe

Lyttini  
 

Genus

Lytta  
  Subgenus Pomphopoea  
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

 

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

Say blister beetle

Say’s blister beetle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Elytra

The hardened or leathery forewings of beetles used to protect the fragile hindwings, which are used for flying. Singular: elytron.

 

Femur

On insects and arachnids, the third, largest, most robust segment of the leg, coming immediately before the tibia. On humans, the thigh bone.

 

Labrum

The upper part of the mouth, sometimes considered the lower part of the face, corresponding to the upper lip, on an insect or crustacean.

 

Pronotum

The exoskeletal plate on the upper side of the first segment of the thorax of an insect.

 

Tarsus

On insects, the last two to five subdivisions of the leg, attached to the tibia; the foot. On spiders, the last segment of the leg. Plural: tarsi.

 

Tibia

The fourth segment of an insect leg, after the femur and before the tarsus (foot). The fifth segment of a spider leg or palp.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
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Valerie

 
 

This `little` guy bumped into me on June 2022.

 
    Say blister beetle   Say blister beetle  
 

Diana

 
    Say blister beetle      
 

Brandon Carlsness

 
  I’ve always been an outdoors guy and in 37 years never saw one of these in Minnesota. Are these new here?   Say blister beetle  
           
 
MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos
 
 

 

 
           

 

Camera

     
 
Slideshows
 
Lytta sayi
Andree Reno Sanborn
  Lytta sayi  

 

slideshow

       
 
Visitor Videos
 
       
 

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Other Videos
 
  GREEN BLISTER BEETLE mating pairs compete for top spot (Lytta sayi)
Rob Curtis
 
   
 
About

Feb 13, 2016

Lytta sayi = GREEN BLISTER BEETLE. One pair wanted to get to the top of the flower, but the other was not letting them.

 

 

Camcorder

 
 
Visitor Sightings
 
           
 

Report a sighting of this insect.

 
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Be sure to include a location.
 
  Loren Heeringa
6/7/2023

Location: SW Eden Prairie

Swarming on my purple wisteria flowers, some connecting like are mating. So far just on the flowers. Hoping they will not defoliate the leaves of my wisteria.

 
  Valerie
6/11/2022

Location: Eden Prairie, MN

This `little` guy bumped into me on June 2022.

Say blister beetle  
  Diana
6/7/2022

Location: Itasca County

Say blister beetle  
  Liz
6/4/2022

Location: Northern Hubbard County

my crab apple trees are full of  these.

 
  Brandon Carlsness
5/22/2021

Location: Duluth, Minnesota

I’ve always been an outdoors guy and in 37 years never saw one of these in Minnesota. Are these new here?

Say blister beetle  
           
 
MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings
 
 

 

 

 

 

Binoculars


Created: 6/13/2021

Last Updated:

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