Blackbellied Clerid

Enoclerus lecontei · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Cleridae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Blackbellied Clerid
Photo: Abby Hyde, CC BY

The blackbellied clerid is a checkered beetle that belongs to the family Cleridae. It hunts and eats bark beetles.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

The blackbellied clerid is a checkered beetle in the Cleridae family.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

It preys on bark beetles.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 9 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, Nevada, Texas.

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

JFMAMJJASOND

Source: GBIF

More photos

Blackbellied Clerid photo 2
Photo: Trevor Van Loon, CC BY
Blackbellied Clerid photo 3
Photo: Chris Ratzlaff, CC BY
Blackbellied Clerid photo 4
Photo: Jack Byrley, CC BY
Blackbellied Clerid photo 5
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0

Questions people ask

What does the blackbellied clerid eat?

It feeds on bark beetles.

Source: Wikipedia

Same family (Cleridae)

Bee-eating BeetleBee-eating BeetleTrichodes apiariusOrnate Checkered BeetleOrnate Checkered BeetleTrichodes ornatusBee-eating Beetle (Trichodes alvearius)Bee-eating Beetle (Trichodes alvearius)Trichodes alveariusEuropean Red-bellied CleridEuropean Red-bellied CleridThanasimus formicariusRed-blue Checkered BeetleRed-blue Checkered BeetleTrichodes nutalliRed-legged Ham BeetleRed-legged Ham BeetleNecrobia rufipesCan damage your home

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoclerus_lecontei

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-27 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-27.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.