(Zonitis bilineata)
Conservation • Description • Habitat • Biology • Distribution • Taxonomy
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Description |
Two-lined blister beetle is a small to medium-sized beetle. It occurs in the United States east of the Great Plains. There are isolated populations around Denver, Colorado, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Salt Lake City, Utah, and there are a few scattered records in the central Great Plains. It also occurs in southern Quebec and Ontario Canada. Adults are active in July and August. They are found in grasslands. They feed on flowers and associated plant tissues. The larvae are parasites in the nests of ground-nesting bees in the Megachilidae family and possibly other families. Adults are ¼″ to ½″ (6.5 to 13 mm) in length. The body is long and soft. The head is short, broad, orange, and ant-like. The eyes are moderately large and widely separated. The mouthparts are long, and they are directed downwards. The jaws (mandibles) are short and stout. The antennae have 11 segments. They are usually mostly black, but often the first two segments are pale. They are relatively short, about twice as long as the plate covering the first segment of the thorax (pronotum). The pronotum is orange, shiny, wider than the head, and slightly wider than long. The front and lateral margins are evenly rounded. Sometimes there are slightly raised areas, sometimes shallow or deep depressions on each side. Pitting (punctures) on the surface can be dense to sparse, but it is usually moderately dense. The plate between the wing bases (pronotum) is orange, short, broadly rounded at the tip, and shallowly depressed in the center. The wing covers (elytra) are cream-colored or gray, and they are long, completely covering the abdomen. On each elytron, there is a single, black, longitudinal line extending from near the base to near the tip. The line may be bold and broad, narrow and faint, or somewhere between. On some individuals it is absent. The elytra are nearly parallel sided, widest toward the rear, and broadly rounded at the rear. The surface is usually slightly wrinkled and distinctly punctate, but it may be smooth or be distinctly wrinkled and not at all punctate. On some individuals, there are three or four slightly raised longitudinal ridges, but on most there are none. The legs are long and mostly orange. On each leg, the tip of the third leg segment (femur) and fourth leg segment (tibia) is black. On the front and middle legs, the last part of the leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, has 5 segments. On the rear legs, the tarsus has only 4 segments. |
Size |
Total length: ¼″ to ½″ (6.5 to 13 mm) |
Similar Species |
Habitat |
Grasslands |
Biology |
Season |
July and August |
Behavior |
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Life Cycle |
Eggs are laid on the underside of leaves. When an egg hatches, the larva climbs to the flower and waits. When a bee lands, the larva attaches itself to the bee and is eventually carried to the nest. It kills and consumes a bee larva, then feeds on the pollen and nectar collected for it in the nest. |
Larva Hosts |
Ground-nesting bees in the family Megachilidae |
Adult Food |
Flowers and associated plant tissues |
Distribution |
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Sources |
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12/30/2024 | ||
Occurrence |
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Taxonomy |
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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 |
Nemognathinae |
Tribe |
Nemognathini |
Genus |
Zonitis |
Subgenus |
Neozonitis |
Subordinate Taxa |
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Synonyms |
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Common Names |
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two-lined 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.
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.
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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Babette Kis |
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Zonitis bilineata
Zonitis bilineata, a colorful blister beetle, on flat-top goldenrod. Photo taken at Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI on August 9, 2024. |
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Babette Kis |
Location: Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI Zonitis bilineata, a colorful blister beetle, on flat-top goldenrod. Photo taken at Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI on August 9, 2024. |
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Created: 12/30/2024 Last Updated: © MinnesotaSeasons.com. All rights reserved. |