#flea beetles

[razehider]

Sphaeroderma rubidum is a common little flea beetle that, despite the name, kind of sucks at jumping and at moving around in general, which means i almost always find them on their thistle host plants. this one, however, was a bit lost and ignored the perfectly serviceable thistles nearby to climb a wall on a quest known only to its tiny brain

(October 30th, 2024)

[ljsbugblog]

I didn't have a post queued for tonight so uh

beetle threesome :)

Unknown Flea Beetles, 3 individuals (genus Altica).

[lazchance]

hello my dears... two creatures in one photo today: a leaf beetle with a springtail clinging on to its bottom leg

do you see it? look very closely at the bottom left of the photo... theres a tiny orange-green lump stuck to the leg of the beetle. the leaf beetle is likely (Philopona mouhoti) a pretty and somewhat uncommon species

mega zoom in on the very tiny springtail! heres the clearest photo i could get of this critter that was less than a millimeter in size... these fellas are incredibly hard for me to spot and i only noticed this one sticking out on the leg of the leaf beetle upon very careful inspection

[that-crazy-scorpio-man]

Cute little friend who was enjoying the passionflowers just like me.

[nanonaturalist]

@dragonseekerart submitted:

Sorry, not the best pictures my camera didn’t want to focus… I found this little guy in the pool in my backyard, so you know what he is? He’s kind of green and has bright orange underside! I live in northern Utah if that helps!

Wow, this dude was not as easy to ID as I thought he would be! Some things I looked at while I was figuring out who this was:

Most beetles have bodies completely covered by their wing casings, so I thought this would be easy. But the beetles I knew with the pronotum shaped like a shield had all their bits safely tucked away! Luckily, beetle ID guides know this, so they use the antennae to start out the ID process. And VIOLA! We have

A Soft-winged Flower Beetle (Family Melyridae)! [link to iNat]

I think your friend is in the genus Collops. A naturalist friend of mine saw one of these in California [link to iNat]. In his photo, you can see the funky antennae a little more clearly. WEIRD!!!

Above photo copyright Chris Mallory [link again]

Initially, I had thought those little bumps on the antennae could have been ant heads! It wouldn’t have been the first time I’d seen them there! [link to iNat]

Ant head attached to a (living!) flea beetle antenna. The ants attack, grab on, die, bodies fall off, and the poor beetle just has to deal.

Thanks for sending in your beetle, that was fun to figure out!

July 7, 2019

[razehider]

a flea beetle (Longitarsus sp.) on ragwort, making use of its host plant's big and sometimes curly leaves to hide in a cozy spot when taking a break from its favorite activities such as jumping around like crazy and eating. ironically if the leaf hadn't been curled up i wouldn't have been as compelled to take a look

(June 15th, 2025)

[razehider]

between the rust fungus (Puccinia malvacearum) and its own voracious appetite, or that of its siblings, this Podagrica finds itself on one of the most utterly annihilated mallow leaves i've ever seen. there are better ones nearby, little fella (June 12th, 2025)

[razehider]

for all their diversity, chrysomelids universally have very cute faces, which are often obscured by fully black heads or, in the case of flea beetles, by their obnoxiously slippery behavior. this Podagrica was calm enough for a look at it while exploring some orchard grass

(May 20th, 2025)