The Ornate Checkered Beetle is a strikingly beautiful small beetle with bright blue elytra boldly banded in red or orange and white, found on flowers throughout the western United States. Adults are frequent visitors to compound flowers where they consume pollen and nectar while larvae are predators of solitary bee and wasp larvae in their nests. Their vivid pattern may mimic a beetle with chemical defenses.
Habitat
Open meadows, prairies, and roadsides with flowers
Diet
Adults: pollen and nectar. Larvae: bee and wasp larvae in nests
How common
Common
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