Camera Critters – Beetle

It only took a few minutes to indentify this bug at my favorite bug ID site www.BugGuide.net. When you encounter some critter in the garden, it helps to know a little bit about the general morphology of the bug. Take a minute to decide if you think this insect belongs to the ant order, wasp and bee order, butterfly and moth order, grasshopper order…well, you get the idea. That will help you start looking in the right direction for an ID. BugGuide.net makes that easier by grouping the orders of insects on the left-hand side of the page with an icon representing the general form. By clicking on the icon of the grasshopper, for instance, you will be directed to the section which includes similar bugs such as crickets and katydids.
I wasn’t certain where to search first until I remembered that beetles are that group of insects which have a hard set of wings that fold over and protect their flying wings when they are resting. Ok, so clicking on the beetle icon, I’m in the right group…now what? Well, those antennae are unlike anything I’ve ever seen on any insect other than a moth, so I figured I’d just scroll through and look for bugs with feathery antennae. There are more than I thought I would find, but not many. One had similar markings but the head was black with red antennae. Finally I saw a photo that resembled my bug, and clicked to view more. Sure enough, this was it. Meet the Wedge-Shaped Beetle (Macrosiagon limbata.) *Really? The person that discovered this bug couldn’t have come up with something more imaginative than “wedge-shaped beetle”--something that described its showy red color or feathered coif?* Well, this is the male. The female’s antennae are not as showy.
All right, now I knew what kind of beetle came to visit me while I worked in the garden, but I need to know more. That is just my curious nature. I’ve gone my whole entire life completely unaware that this critter lived near me. Now I want to know everything there is to know about it. I’ve hit a dead end with the internet, so I’ll be doing some research at the library. For now, the only thing I know is that it feeds on fungus and also enjoys flower nectar. I think he’s rather cute—for a bug.
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