Black bug ID

[Ridgerunner]

Any idea what this might be? They are not in the garden but more hanging around the house. There are a lot of them, but they do not congregate. Seem to each stay by itself.

 

[lesa]

Kind of looks like a box elder bug- but not enough red on it...

 

[Carol Dee]

http://www.ask.com/wiki/Blister_beetle?
Possibley a blister beetle, check the link above.

 

[digitS']

I'll go with Carol Dee on this one:

Epicauta conferta in BugGuide (click)

Family Meloidae (Blister Beetles)

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think you got it. Thanks.

 

[hoodat]

Black blister beetle, also known as army bug from their habit of arriving in swarms. If they find your tomatos you are in trouble. The first ones to find good eating send out a pheremone message on the wind that calls in more from miles around; then a mass feast/orgy takes place in your garden. They can strip a tomato plant to bare sticks in just a couple of days.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Another version of blister beetles, a yellow and black striped version, has already done that to about a 10' section of my tomatoes. Stripped the leaves off and left a bunch of large green tomatoes. I hit them with Sevin which was very effective, then hung up sheets to keep the tomatoes from getting sunscald.

Blister beetles is the first place I looked for these but I could not find this specific picture, the black with the two red spots. They were not massing together either which I'd expect from blister beetles. They are just scattered all around the house. So I threw the question out to the community, which came through as usual.

 

[Carol Dee]

rozidays
Not to argue, but if you look closely the click beetles head is the same width as the thorax.
This insects head and thorax are much differant in size.