User:Meloid.Ella/Lytta nuttalli

Biology and Habitat
Lytta nuttalli, or Nuttall's blister beetle, is a brilliant green and purple beetle which lives in the prairies of Canada (Alberta to Manitoba) and the United States (Idaho south to Arizona, east to Minnesota and New Mexico). They have also been found in a disjunct population which is restricted to higher altitudes in eastern California.

Their bright, iridescent exoskeletons are in sharp contrast to the plants of their native habitat, which serves as a form of aposematic coloring. Adults do not vary significantly in size, ranging from about 1-1 1/4 inches.

As adults, L. nuttalli are known to feed in groups, particularly on legumes. This behavior can create problems for farmers, since they occasionally feed on soybeans, sweetclover, alfalfa, and other crops. Animals that eat the beetles in hay or forage may be poisoned by the beetles' chemical defense. However, the beetles are not considered a serious agricultural pest since their populations are naturally limited by native bee populations, which they rely on as larva. Their presence in crop land has decreased since the 1930s due to native bee populations declining.

They have been known to aggregate and hybridize with L. viridana, a rarer, closely related species which inhabits similar areas.

Taxonomy
This species is one of over 3,000 included in the family Meloidae or 'blister beetles'. It was first described in 1824 by Thomas Say and the specific nuttallii recognizes the contributions of Thomas Nuttall, a contemporary of Say. The genus Lytta is from a Latin word suggesting madness.

Courtship and mating
Male L. nuttalli beetles court female beetles by mounting them and repeating three specific motions: antennal stroking, abdominal vibration and attempted genital insertion. First, the male uses his forelegs to prop up the female’s antennae and strokes the tip of them with his own antennae. He then vibrates his abdomen laterally and brushes her eighth abdominal segment with his to stimulate her. Finally, he attempts to insert his aedagus, and if she does not accept him immediately, he repeats the first two motions until she does. This sequence of events usually takes between five and 30 minutes, depending on the receptivity of the female.

Larvae and Reproduction
Females lay eggs in clusters of 320 between one and five times per mating season. Eggs hatch into a mobile, pre-larval stage known as triungulins which are able to crawl along the ground to locate ground bee nests, which they parasitize. Once the triungulins have located a nest, they remain there, feeding on the larval bees and the provisions left by the mother bee, until they pupate and emerge as adults.

The host bees are most likely a species in the genus Anthophora, in the family Apidae, since other members of genus Lytta are known to parasitize these bees. They have also been raised in lab on honey bees and leaf-cutter bees.

Chemical defenses
Members of the genus Lytta, similar to every other member in the family Meloidae, produce a chemical called cantharidin in their hemolymph. This chemical irritates human skin and can cause blisters, thus acting as a defense mechanism. Cantharidin is emitted from places where the cuticle is thin, such as between their joints or segments on their abdomen. This is called autohaemorrhaging, or reflex bleeding, when animals purposefully eject blood, or hemolymph, from some point in their bodies as a method of protection.