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Sticker of Lesser bloody-nosed beetle
Bug card No. 2577 of 4,939

Lesser bloody-nosed beetle

Timarcha goettingensis
Eats: PlantsBeetlesGardens and meadows6 legs

The lesser bloody-nosed beetle is a round, shiny beetle that can be blue-black, black or a purple-copper colour. It slowly plods along on the ground and on low plants. It has a funny name and a bigger cousin with almost the same name.

Lives in
Europe, in meadows, fields and grassy places
Length
0.8 to 1.3 cm (0.31 to 0.51 in)
Top speed
about 0.47 km/h (0.29 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. If you scare it, it may let out a drop of red liquid, but it cannot hurt you. Just watch it and let it go.
What does it eat?
It is a leaf beetle, so it munches on the leaves of plants.
For real!Photo of Lesser bloody-nosed beetle
Picture by Slimguy. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Lesser bloody-nosed beetle about 1.3 cm long (0.51 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
as long as 2 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 7.7 seconds

How big is Lesser bloody-nosed beetle compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It has a bigger cousin called the bloody-nosed beetle, which grows up to 18 millimetres long.

2

It shines in the sun like a little metal button.

3

It belongs to the leaf beetles, a huge family of beetles that all eat plants.

you asked

Most asked questions about Lesser bloody-nosed beetle

?Is the lesser bloody-nosed beetle dangerous?

No. It cannot bite or sting you. It is best to just look and let it walk on.

?How big is the lesser bloody-nosed beetle?

About 8 to 13 millimetres long, a bit bigger than a pea.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Timarcha goettingensis
Group
Beetles
Family
Chrysomelidae
Classification
Insecta > Coleoptera > Chrysomelidae
Lives on
Europe
Also known as
Small bloody-nosed beetle

Where the facts come from

  1. Timarcha goettingensis (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 Slimguy. CC BY 4.0, 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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More from the same group: Beetles

Also at home here: Gardens and meadows

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