Bloody-nosed Beetle - Timarcha tenebricosa

Scientific Name: Timarcha tenebricosa (Chrysomelidae).

English Name: Bloody-nosed Beetle.

French Name: Le Crache-sang (='the spit-blood')

5 Key Characters:

• satin black.
• domed back.
• flightless, with elytra (wingcases) that are fused together.
• pronotum (the section between the head and the abdomen) narrows towards the body.
• usually seen walking ponderously across the ground.

Lookalikes: Lesser Bloody-nosed Beetle T. goettingensis, which is smaller and shinier (and possibly more common in this area). Timarcha are called bloody-nosed beetles because when distressed they will exude a red fluid from the mouth.

Habitat: Grasslands where there are bedstraws Galium spp, its foodplant.

Active Period: Adults can be seen from April to August.

Status: Common.

Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:
All photographs will enlarge in a new window if you click on them. Row 1 ambling across a track at l'Etang de la mer rouge in the Brenne, June.