Bug FAQAshgray blister beetle
Epicauta fabricii · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Meloidae
Source: Wikipedia
This beetle lives in North America. Adults eat the leaves of honeylocust, black locust, alfalfa, sweet clover, soybean, locoweed, okra, green bell pepper and jalapeño, while the larvae eat grasshopper eggs.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The species is called the ashgray blister beetle, scientific name Epicauta fabricii.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It is found across North America.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adult beetles eat foliage of honeylocust, black locust, alfalfa and other legumes. They have also been seen feeding on sweet clover, wild indigo, soybean, locoweed, okra, green bell pepper and jalapeño leaves. Larvae feed on the eggs of grasshoppers.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its native range is North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 32 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Utah, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, Massachusetts, Montana.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What plants does the ashgray blister beetle eat?
Adults chew the leaves of honeylocust, black locust, alfalfa, sweet clover, soybean, locoweed, okra, green bell pepper and jalapeño, while larvae eat grasshopper eggs.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Meloidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicauta_fabricii
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-25 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-25.