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Sticker of Goldenrod soldier beetle
Bug card No. 0637 of 1,500

Goldenrod soldier beetle

Chauliognathus pensylvanicus
Name means: “pensylvanicus is Latin for "of Pennsylvania", and goldenrod is the flower it loves”
Eats: A bit of everythingBeetlesGardens and meadows6 legs

The goldenrod soldier beetle is a long, slim orange beetle with black patches on its soft wing covers. In late summer, lots of them gather on yellow goldenrod flowers. That is how it got its name.

Lives in
North America, from Canada down to Florida and Texas, in meadows, fields and gardens with flowers
Length
1.6 cm (0.63 in)
Top speed
about 0.52 km/h (0.32 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people and to plants. It is actually a helpful garden guest.
What does it eat?
The grown-ups eat nectar and pollen, and also small insects like aphids and caterpillars. The hairy dark grubs hunt grasshopper eggs and soft little insects.
For real!Photo of Goldenrod soldier beetle
Picture by WanderingMogwai. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Goldenrod soldier beetle about 1.6 cm long (0.63 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 2.5 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 6.9 seconds

How big is Goldenrod soldier beetle compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It loves yellow flowers more than any other colour.

2

When it is scared, it oozes a sticky white liquid that tastes awful. Spiders and birds soon learn to leave it alone.

3

Its bright orange and black colours warn hungry animals that it tastes bad.

4

While it feeds on flowers, it carries pollen from flower to flower and helps plants make seeds.

5

There are the most of these beetles in August.

you asked

Most asked questions about Goldenrod soldier beetle

?Is the goldenrod soldier beetle harmful?

No. It does not hurt people or plants. It even helps by eating aphids and carrying pollen.

?What does the goldenrod soldier beetle eat?

Nectar, pollen and small insects such as aphids and caterpillars.

?Why do soldier beetles gather on goldenrod?

They love yellow flowers and come to drink nectar and eat pollen there in late summer.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Chauliognathus pensylvanicus
Named by
De Geer
Group
Beetles
Family
Cantharidae
Classification
Insecta > Coleoptera > Cantharidae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Pennsylvania leatherwing

Where the facts come from

  1. Goldenrod soldier beetle (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by WanderingMogwai. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

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