Coleoptera: Meloidae

Identification
• Blister beetles are slender and long with soft wingcovers. The first segment of the thorax is narrower than either the head or the wingcovers.
• Individual species are variable in color, but often black or grey. A few midwestern species are metallic or striped.

Host range
• Adults sometimes can be pests on various crops, but the larvae are considered beneficial.  They feed on grasshopper eggs in the soil, and a few species attack ground-nesting bees.

Life cycle
• They have complete metamorphosis and a complex life cycle. Two different types of larvae occur. The first instar actively seeks out prey, then molts into a more sedentary phase that feeds on the prey. They spend the winter as pseudopupae and the adults emerge in spring.

Other information
• Blister beetles have body fluids that contain cantharidin, a substance that can blister human skin.