Ischnomera excavata

Introduction:

They consist of about 1,000 species of beetles where the adults are obligate pollen feeders. These beetles are a different family from blister beetles (Meloidae). They possess a unique characteristic of having soft, rather than hardened, wings. Oedemeridae may be defined as slender, soft-bodied beetles of medium size found mostly on flowers and foliage. The head lacks a narrow neck, the antennae are long and filiform. Adults contain the toxic cantharidin in their corporal fluids as a defensive mechanism; several species show brilliant and metallic blue, green, gold or coppery, often combined with yellow, orange or red, aposematic colourations. In temperate regions, adults are mainly polyphagous pollen and nectar-feeding, and diurnal in activity. In tropical areas, most are nocturnal and are attracted to light.
Life Cycle: The larvae of most genera are xylophagous, boring tunnels in spongy, damp wood in an advanced state of decomposition; thus they have little economic importance. Larvae of the genera Oedemera and Stenostoma develop in dead stems of herbaceous plants.

Size 0.4 inch (10 mm)
Sexual Dimorphism:
Metamorphosis: complete (egg, larva, pupa, adult)