Bug FAQCanada Fire-colored Beetle
Dendroides canadensis · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Pyrochroidae
Adult Canada fire-colored beetles measure between 7 and 16 mm long. They have a black head and wing covers with a reddish-brown thorax and legs, and their antennae are comb-like with very large eyes.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The head and elytra are black, the thorax and legs are reddish-brown. Antennae are pectinate and the compound eyes are very large, contiguous in males and almost united in females.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults range from 7 to 16 mm (0.28 to 0.63 in) in length.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Larvae live under bark of fallen wood, where they feed.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
In the fall, larvae stop eating and drinking and evacuate their gut. This behavior represents the first known case of overwintering by switching between two mechanisms.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
It is also native to northern Indiana.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 35 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, Indiana.
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
When are Canada fire-colored beetles active?
Adults are nocturnal and are attracted to lights, so they are most noticeable at night.
Source: Wikipedia
Where can I find Canada fire-colored beetles?
They are native to eastern North America, ranging from Manitoba and Nova Scotia to Oklahoma and Florida, and are also found in northern Indiana.
Source: Wikipedia
What do Canada fire-colored beetles look like?
They have a black head and wing covers, a reddish-brown thorax and legs, pectinate antennae, and very large eyes that are contiguous in males.
Source: Wikipedia
What do the larvae of Canada fire-colored beetles eat?
Larvae live under the bark of fallen trees and branches, where they feed.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Pyrochroidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendroides_canadensis
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.