Coleoptera August 6, 2007 This beetle looked like a piece of polished brass. Pretty classy for a beetle that hunts for dung! It might have been searching for the horse dung that had been left behind on the hiking trail the previous weekend. Dung beetles are sometimes called "tumblebugs" because they roll balls of dung, deposit the ball underground and then lay an egg on it. Just imagine, dung being used as a form of "baby food"! The flat area in front of the mouth is used as a shovel to move the soil (thus the name "earth boring"). The beetle was injured and crawling on the ground. One of the flight wings is visible at the end of the abdomen.
Tiger Beetle
August 6, 2007 Seeing the small holes in the leaves of a wild potato vine was a clue that I might find a tortoise beetle. These unusual beetles are a brilliant gold color when undisturbed. Unfortunately, having a large black camera lens zooming in can be un-nerving to a small insect! It quickly turned this bright orange and then crawled off the leaf. The beetle gets its' common name from the way the elytra (outer wings) flare out and form a tortoise-like shell.
