Blister Beetle (Hycleus lugens)

Family Meloidae

Blister Beetles are generally very colourful and this one is about 1cm in length.

 Adults secrete liquids containing the poison cantharadin from the leg joints which may blister the human skin and if eaten, may prove fatal.

 Some lay eggs on flowers and their first stage larvae attach themselves to visiting bees which carry them back to their nests. The beetle larvae then occupy cells and feed on their hosts stores of pollen and nectar.

Info: Field Guide to Insects of South Africa

Spotted Tortoise Beetle (Conchyloctenia punctata)

Family Chrysomelidae

They are common in South Africa and can vary from a copper colour to orange or red.

They are smallish, about 12mm in length.

 The front portion is a reddish brown unlike most other tortoise beetle which have an almost clear ridge around it.

The eggs are laid on the underside of the leaf and hatch after about two weeks, the pupa being white with black markings.

Beetle larvae stack their excreta (the long thin, black filaments) as well as cast off skins onto a thin, fork-like appendage near the muscular anus. This forms the “tail” of the larva.