Plague soldier beetle
The plague soldier beetle is a flat beetle with shiny olive green wing cases and a bright yellow-orange stripe behind its head. In spring it gathers in huge crowds on trees and bushes. A crowd can have hundreds of thousands of beetles.
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Fun facts
Under its green wing cases it hides a yellow-orange belly.
The beetles swarm together to find mates and food.
You see them most in spring and early summer.
A grown-up beetle lives for about two to three months.
Most asked questions about Plague soldier beetle
?Are plague soldier beetles dangerous?
No. They do not bite or sting people, even when there are thousands of them.
?Why do plague soldier beetles swarm?
They gather in big groups on plants to find mates and to eat.
?How big is a plague soldier beetle?
It grows up to about 1.5 centimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Chauliognathus lugubris
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Cantharidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Cantharidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Green soldier beetle, Banana bug
Where the facts come from
- Chauliognathus lugubris (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Mike Dickison. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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