The Checkered Beetles (266 NA spp) are generally brightly colored with
hairy bodies, soft elytra, and large heads. Most are predators on wood-boring
beetles in forests. Perhaps 13 species have been collected at CCNHA.
Phyllobaenus
(3+spp--humeralis, unifasciatus,
pallidipennis)
are fairly common. P. humeralis is commonly taken in small numbers
from a variety of fields in early summer.
P. pallidipennis is often
seen on bur oak in savanna regions. Trichodes
nutalli is a conspicuous red and blue-black species often seen
on yarrow, Achillea millefolium, but it is infrequently collected
in sweeping. It is a predator of larvae in the nests of bees and
wsps. Uncommon Clerids collected primarily from woodland include:
Enoclerus
(3 spp--quadriguttatus, rosmarus, ichneumoneus),
Thanasimus
(2 spp-dubius, undulatus),
Ishydnocera
sp,
Cymatodera undulata, Zenodosus
sanguineus,
andChariessa
pilosa.
