Order Coleoptera | Family Meloidae Rank Species | |
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Similar Hycleus, Mylabris variabilis, Mylabris quadripunctata, Epicauta rufidorsum, Zonitis | ||
Hycleus polymorphus is a species of Blister Beetles belonging to the family Meloidae subfamily Meloinae.
These beetles are present in most of Europe, in the Near East and in East Palearctic ecozone.
They have an elongate soft body and are completely black, with yellow-orange stripes and spots on elytra. They have very different colourful patterns (hence the Latin word polymorphus). Anterior and middle black bands of elytra extend to outer border and along suture. The mentioned spots are enclosed in the apical dark bands.
The adults grow up to 11–20 millimetres (0.43–0.79 in) long and can be encountered on flowers from July through August, mainly feeding on Asteraceae and Fabaceae species.
The larval stage of these insects is quite complex, as they are characterized by hypermetamorphosis, a kind of complete insect metamorphosis in which, in addition to the normal stages of larva, nymph and imago, they have several others, with great differences in appearance and way of life.
The female of Hycleus polymorphus lays her eggs in the soil. The first-stage larvae move to find an ootheca of grasshoppers, as these beetles are predators of Acridids eggs (Acrididae species, especially locusts), being a natural control agent. In the eggs of their victims they start a new cycle of metamorphosis.