Bordered wedge-shaped beetle
The bordered wedge-shaped beetle is a small beetle that sits on summer flowers. Its wing cases are longer than its body and spread apart at the tips. Its babies have a sneaky trick: they hitch a ride on wasps.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The mother lays her eggs on flowers that bees and wasps like to visit.
The tiny new larva has legs and climbs onto a visiting wasp, which then carries it home to its nest.
Once inside the nest, the larva changes into a new shape without any legs.
Males have feelers shaped like little combs, while females have feelers with saw-like edges.
It is quick and only flies for a short time each year, so it is hard to catch.
Most asked questions about Bordered wedge-shaped beetle
?What does the bordered wedge-shaped beetle eat?
Its larvae live in wasp nests and eat the wasp babies or their food. The grown-ups visit flowers like goldenrod and elderberry.
?Is the bordered wedge-shaped beetle dangerous?
No. It cannot sting and is harmless to people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Macrosiagon limbata
- Named by
- Fabricius, 1781
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Ripiphoridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Ripiphoridae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Macrosiagon limbata (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 Judy Gallagher. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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