This blood red beetle certainly looks like it has been polished to a shine. As the name suggests, this species ranges across the west—in the Pacific Northwest, south to southern California and down the Rockies down to New Mexico. Like most other members of the subfamily Coccinellinae, these beetles feast on insects and insect eggs, including aphids and other “true bugs” (suborder Heteroptera), caterpillars, fly larvae, and scale insects. Members of this subfamily include our most familiar lady beetles, valued for feeding on agricultultural pests—the Convergent Lady Beetle (Hippodamia convergens), for example. Like all beetles, this species undergoes complete metamorphosis, with an egg, larval, pupal, and adult stage.
Size: 3.5 mm – 6.2 mm
Photo by: Glenn Marangelo on 9/11/22 near Elmo, MT