The Blister Beetles Of Florida

The family Meloidae – blister beetles – contains about 2500 species, divided among 80 genera and 3 subfamilies. Florida has 26 species, only a small fraction of the total number in the U.S. but nearly three times that in the West Indies [12]. Adult beetles are phytophagous, feeding especially on plants in the families Amaranthaceae, Compositae, Leguminosae, and Solanaceae. Most adults eat only floral parts, but some, particularly those of Epicauta spp., eat leaves as well. A few adults are nocturnal; most are diurnal or show no distinct diel cycle. Since adults are gregarious and often highly colored, they tend to be conspicuous. However, except for first instar larvae (triungulins) frequenting flowers or clinging to adult bees, larval blister beetles are seldom seen. So far as known, all larvae are specialized predators. Larvae of most genera enter the nests of wild bees, where they consume both immature bees and the provisions of one or more cells. Those of some Meloinae, including most Epicauta spp., prey on the eggs of acridid grasshoppers. A few larvae evidently prey on the eggs of blister beetles [11]. Of the Florida species, Nemognatha punctulata LeC. [misidentified as Zonitis vittigera (LeC.)] has been found in a nest of a Megachile sp. in Cuba [9] and several members of the genus Epicauta have been associated with the eggpods of Melanoplus spp.