Apalus bimaculatus

About the Apalus bimaculatus

Apalus bimaculatus, the early blister beetle, is a species of blister beetle from the family Meloidae. It is the type species of the genus Apalus. This species is a 1 centimetre (0.39 in) long predominantly black beetle which has distinctive yellow-orange elytra each with a single black dot near the posterior end of each elytron. The females have a swollen abdomen and some of its segments are yellowish in colour.

Apalus bimaculatus is a widespread species over much of Europe, as far north as southern Scandinavia although it is absent from Great Britain. Apalus bimaculatus occurs in sandy area such as coastal dunes and riparian floodplains as well as being found in man made habitats such as sand pits and sand quarries. It is a cleptoparasite of the solitary bee Colletes cunicularius. The adults of this beetle emerge early in the spring to mate and to lay their eggs near the nesting aggregations of their host bee. They are short-lived and the females die after mating and the eggs hatch from the body of their mother and the larvae crawl out of the protection of their mother's corpse. The first instar of larvae, the triungulins... Wikipedia →