Another fave. I have seen and held these beauties before. They are ( IMO ) so much fun. Believe it or not they're in the same family as fireflies. Yup.Hell the larvae resemble Glowworms. Awesome! Found some info on Calopteron discrepans which apparently is closely related to C. reticulatum. Funny how the site never thought that C. discrepans might be a subspecies of C. reticulatum since they are so similar.
But it's also possible that I'm mistaken in this. But it's just one of my musings. I tend to over think on these things quite a bit. Bad habit....XD
Any way here's the linky: Clicky! It's very interesting.
Lycidae is a family in the beetle order Coleoptera, members of which are commonly called net-winged beetles.
Beetles of this family are elongated and usually found on flowers or stems. The adults of some species are nectarivores while some may have short-lived adult lives during which they may not feed at all.
The head is triangular and the antennae are long, thick, and serrate. Most of them are brick-red in colour. They are protected from predators by being toxic.
The predaceous larvae grow under bark or in leaf litter.
- Wikipedia ( Linky )Bugguide also has some nice info. Apparently some moths mimic these because apparently they're distasteful to birds and whatnot.
I wonder ( if this is the reason ) what the beetles feed on to make them toxic?
Or if it's natural toxins.....? Eh too tired to think on it properly. Enjoy though. As usual no copyright infringement is intended.
Should probably head to bed now. XD
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