Red malachite beetle
The red malachite beetle is a small, soft beetle with red wing cases and a black head. It loves sunshine and warmth and is busy during the day. You can find lots of them together on reeds by the water.
How big is it?
How long is it?
How big is Red malachite beetle compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The male has a curly black ridge at the tip of each wing case that looks like a musical note.
It likes to snack on dead insects that reed spiders have caught.
In females, the wing cases do not cover the whole tail end.
Before mating, the female gets to taste a special spot on the male's wing cases.
Most asked questions about Red malachite beetle
?What does the red malachite beetle eat?
Pollen from reeds and dead insects, often ones caught by reed spiders.
?How big is the red malachite beetle?
Just under 5 millimetres long, about the size of a grain of rice.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Anthocomus rufus
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Melyridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Melyridae
- Lives on
- Europe
Where the facts come from
- Anthocomus rufus (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 Jean-Paul Boerekamps. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Stag beetle
Hercules beetle
Common glow-worm
Goliath beetle
Cockchafer
Mealworm beetle
Blue riverdamsel
Orange-spotted emerald
Powdered dancer
Indian common clubtail
Willow redgall sawfly
Rainbow bluet.jpg){kind=link}