Ornate Checkered Beetle -  Trichodes ornatus, Say 1823
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beetle


beetle

beetle

beetle



Photo Details ©Nicky Davis
Located at Upper Setting, Uinta Mountains, Summit County, Utah -  29 June 2010 on  Parsnipflower Buckwheat - Eriogonum heracleoides.

GPS N. 40.37.518, W. 111.08.151,

Elevation 7533

"The beetle is Trichodes ornatus, Say 1823.  This species is common in the mountains of Utah (and elsewhere).  The beetles are usually found on flowers, but I suspect that they feed on insects visiting the flowers, rather than on the flowers themselves.  It is interesting that this species has two very distinct color forms, normally without any intermediate individuals.  Roughly half of the beetles have yellow markings, like the specimen you photographed.  In the other half, the markings are red instead of yellow."  Shawn Clark

Article  regarding  these as "Larval predator in the nests of bees and wasps" and that the adults feed on pollen can be found at www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ese/aesa/194300000036/00000004/art00001

Family Tree
Family: Cleridae
Subfamily:  Clerinae
Tribe:  Clerini
Genus: Trichodes