gold-mouthed soldier beetle

(Rhagonycha oriflava)

Conservation Status
IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

not listed

Minnesota

not listed

 
gold-mouthed soldier beetle
Photo by Alfredo Colon
 
Description

Gold-mouthed soldier beetle is a small, short-lived, soldier beetle. It occurs in the United States from New Hampshire west to Minnesota and in eastern Texas. It also occurs in southern Ontario Canada. Adults are found on flowers and vegetation in late spring and early summer. They prey on other small insects but also take flower nectar. Little information can be found on this species beyond its original description in 1874.

Adults are small, ¼ (6.5 mm) in length, and black with yellow, orangish-yellow, or yellowish-orange markings. The body is soft and somewhat flattened.

The head is mostly exposed, is not constricted behind the eyes, and is not concealed beneath the pronotum. This distinguishes all soldier beetles (Family Cantharidae) from fireflies (Family Lampyridae). It is black behind the eyes, yellow in front of the eyes. This is the feature that gives the species its common name and readily distinguishes it from the otherwise similar angular soldier beetle (Rhagonycha angulata) and linear soldier beetle (Rhagonycha lineola). The antennae are long, slender, thread-like, and black. They have 11 segments.

The thorax is flattened but is slightly convex when viewed from the side. The exoskeletal plate covering the thorax (pronotum) is one-and-a-half times wider than long, widest at the base, and narrowed in front. The front margin is rounded and partly conceals the head, the sides are nearly straight, the rear is slightly rounded, and the angles are rounded. The margins are narrowly flattened and sharp. The upper surface is shiny and yellow, with a broad, black, longitudinal stripe in the middle.

The wing covers (elytra) are black, parallel-sided, leathery, and flexible. They loosely cover the abdomen, sometimes completely, sometimes leaving the tip of the abdomen exposed. They are only slightly wider than the pronotum. The margins are narrowly flattened and pale. The inner margin (suture) is usually also pale. The surface is finely pitted (punctate) and is covered with short, fine hairs. The plate between the wing bases (scutellum) is small and black.

The legs are long, slender, and mostly yellow. The third segment (femur) of each leg is dark at the base. The end part of each leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, has 5 segments. The fourth tarsal segment is deeply lobed and heart shaped.

 

Size

Total length: ¼ (6.5 mm)

 

Similar Species

 
Habitat

 

Biology

Season

Spring and early summer

 

Behavior

Adults are active during the day.

 

Life Cycle

 

 

Larva Food

 

 

Adult Food

Mostly insects but also flower nectar

Distribution

Distribution Map

 

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82, 83.

11/7/2024    
     

Occurrence

 

Taxonomy

Order

Coleoptera (beetles)

Suborder

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

Infraorder

Elateriformia

Superfamily

Elateroidea (click, firefly and soldier beetles)

Family

Cantharidae (soldier beetles)

Subfamily

Cantharinae

Tribe

Cantharini

Genus

Rhagonycha

   

This species was originally described in 1874 as Telephorus oriflavus.

   

Subordinate Taxa

 

   

Synonyms

Telephorus oriflavus

   

Common Names

gold-mouthed soldier beetle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Elytra

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

 

Pronotum

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

 

Punctate

Dotted with pits (punctures), translucent sunken glands, or colored spots of pigment.

 

Scutellum

The exoskeletal plate covering the rearward (posterior) part of the middle segment of the thorax in some insects. In Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Homoptera, the dorsal, often triangular plate behind the pronotum and between the bases of the front wings. In Diptera, the exoskeletal plate between the abdomen and the thorax.

 

 

 

 

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Alfredo Colon

gold-mouthed soldier beetle   gold-mouthed soldier beetle
     
gold-mouthed soldier beetle   gold-mouthed soldier beetle
MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos
 
   

 

   

 

 

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Alfredo Colon
6/17/2024

Location: Albany, NY

gold-mouthed soldier beetle

Alfredo Colon
6/11/2024

Location: Albany, NY

gold-mouthed soldier beetle
Alfredo Colon
6/2/2021

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota

gold-mouthed soldier beetle
Alfredo Colon
5/30/2021

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota

gold-mouthed soldier beetle
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Created: 6/21/2023

Last Updated:

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