Beetle from Spain

Subject:  Spanish fly?
Geographic location of the bug:  Ipswich east anglia
Date: 05/27/2020
Time: 07:21 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Hi bugman just spotted this on a margarita plant and can’t identify it! From google images it looks like a spanish fly
How you want your letter signed:  Chris

Thick Legged Flower Beetle

Dear Chris,
This is not the Blister Beetle commonly called Spanish Fly.  It is a Thick Legged Flower Beetle, Oedemera nobilis, which is profiled on Wildlife Insight where it states it is:  “a common beetle that can be identified by its dazzling colour and gap in the elytra (wing case). This gap in the elytra is not always so obvious but generally gives the appearance of wings that don’t close properly over its back. The males are very distinctive having obvious green bulges in their legs. These beetles certainly catch the eye with their metallic green wing cases glistenening in the sunlight as they feed in the open on flower heads.”

The post Beetle from Spain appeared first on What's That Bug?.