Windwolf
Crex Meadows ... Host to Blister beetle - Lytta sayi
Blister Beetles on Crex Meadows
Lytta sayi
The images on this page were all taken June 26, 2008 along James Road.
Large numbers of this type of Blister beetle covered a patch of Lupine.
According to the Minnesota DNR website, there are more than 300 species of Blister beetle in North America.
The Lytta sayi were multi-tasking, voraciously eating the lupine flowers and buds and mating at the same time.
There is no common name for this type of Blister Beetle.
The picture to the left seems to be of a male Lytta sayi based on what I saw going on in this patch of Lupine.
The picture to the right is another of these Blister beetles which shows a bit of the underwing soft part of the Lytta sayi.
As best as I can tell, based on what I observed this day in Crex Meadows, it seems the female is most likely to show its tan soft sides when on the lupine plants.
The male Lytta sayi seems to be more streamlined and the females seem to have a plumper abdomen area.
The gray hairs vary by individual and may represent older beetles having less fuzz and younger, freshly emergent beetles having more of this hair.
Several websites report the larvae (grub) of this Blister beetle feeds on wild bee larvae. There was a generalized report on one of the University of Minnesota extension pages that report several types of larvae, including grasshoppers are a part of the Blister beetle larvae feeding habits and the Blister beetle numbers often increase after years of drought or grasshopper invasions. Crex Meadows did experience drought conditions in 2007.
Blister Beetle - Lytta Sayi Taxonomy
| Phylum | Arthropoda | Anthropods |
| Class | Insecta | Insects |
| Order | Coleoptera | Beetles |
| Suborder | Polyphaga | Water, Rove, Scarab, Longhorn, Leaf and Snout Beetles |
| Superfamily | Tenebrionoidea | Fungus, Bark, Darkling and Blister Beetle |
| Family | Meloidae | Blister Beetles |
| Genus | Lytta | |
| Species | sayi | Lytta sayi |
The picture on the left shows a typical example of how many of these Blister beetles were gathered in this area.
The area was approximately 150 feet long bordering the woods and road area where the largest numbers of this type of Blister beetle were gathered.
The Neoartica website lists 54 species of Lytta.
The Peterson Field Guide:Beetles (Richard White) lists 68 species of Lytta.
Bugguide.net has 12 species in its pages.
Some references indicate the Blister beetle is more common in the western USA.
The picture to the right shows another pair of these beetles and was another typical view of them crawling over each other in a feeding frenzy.
Both of the beetles to the right show the gray fuzz on their bodies.
Notice the damage to the Lupine flowers from the feeding of the Beetles. There has been some concerns raised in wisconsin regarding this beetles presence in Karner Blue butterfly areas and the effect of the destruction of the flowers and resulting lower seed output of the Lupine. There is no direct conflict between the beetles and the Karner caterpillars as they eat different parts of the Lupine plant.
The head of the Lytta blister beetle has been described as ant-like in various articles as one way to seperate this beetle from others. The picture to the left and the picture below are full sized head shot of these beetles.
The term blister beetle comes from the secretions of these beetles called Cantharidin which can cause blistering on exposed skin if not washed off immediately.
A wikipedia article on Cantharidin indicates blister beetles will cover their eggs with this secretion to protect them from predation.
Reports from people indicate the Lytta sayi blistering agent is not particularily strong and reactions vary by individual.
