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Sticker of Sulphur beetle
Bug card No. 4225 of 4,939

Sulphur beetle

Cteniopus sulphureus
Eats: Nectar and pollenBeetlesGardens and meadows6 legs

The sulphur beetle is a small beetle as yellow as a buttercup. Its wing cases are pale yellow and its head and shoulders are orange yellow. It loves warm, sunny places and sits on flowers.

Lives in
Europe, including Scandinavia, Finland, Slovenia and Italy, in sunny meadows
Length
7 to 8 mm (0.28 to 0.31 in)
Top speed
about 0.37 km/h (0.23 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
You find it on flower heads, especially yarrow, where it feeds on what the flowers offer.
For real!Photo of Sulphur beetle
Picture by Dendrofil. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Sulphur beetle about 8 mm long (0.31 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailcould run across a dinner table in 9.7 seconds

How big is Sulphur beetle compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is only 7 to 8 millimetres long, smaller than a fingernail.

2

Its head sticks out forwards a little, like a short nose.

3

It belongs to the comb-clawed beetles, which have tiny comb-like teeth on their claws.

you asked

Most asked questions about Sulphur beetle

?Where can I find a sulphur beetle?

On flowers like yarrow in warm, sunny meadows.

?Is the sulphur beetle dangerous?

No. It is a harmless little yellow beetle.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Cteniopus sulphureus
Group
Beetles
Family
Tenebrionidae
Classification
Insecta > Coleoptera > Tenebrionidae
Lives on
Europe

Where the facts come from

  1. Cteniopus sulphureus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Dendrofil. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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.

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