Collops tricolor
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Collops tricolor, also known as the black-headed melyrid or the tri-colored soft-winged flower beetle, is a species of soft-winged flower beetle in the family Melyridae. It is found in North America. Adults measure 3.5-4mm in length. Head, undersides, and legs are black. Labrum and polished thorax are rufous while the antennae are pale rufous becoming dusky at the tips. Dark bluish-green to violet elytra, with the margins sometimes rufous in the middle and the suture less often partly rufous.
Elytra are shiny. The basal joints of the antennae are triangular and broad, being virtually equal in width and length. Elytra are duller. Further west, the female type is virtually indistinguishable from other species (e.g., C. vicarius) without an associating male.
Collops sublimbatus was described as its own species by Schaeffer in 1912 from specimens collected near the top of Black Rock Mountain in Rabun County, Georgia. It is virtually the same as C. tricolor, except that the elytral margins and suture are always entirely rufous. Fall indicates that this "species" is a probable variety or color phase of C. tricolor, by... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black-Headed Melyrid sighting in Boston on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 967th most-seen of the 1200 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black-Headed Melyrid in Boston on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Only Boston, in our data
Boston is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Black-Headed Melyrid sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Melyridae
The closest relatives of the Black-Headed Melyrid that you can see in Boston (family Melyridae, Soft-winged Flower Beetles) are Scarlet Malachite Beetle (about 10%) and Eurasian Red-And-Black Melyrid (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-Headed Melyrid is recorded against all the insects logged in Boston (7 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
