Bug FAQDasytes plumbeus
Dasytes plumbeus · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Melyridae
Adults are seen on flowers, shrubs along forest edges and on decomposing wood, feeding on pollen and nectar while their larvae hunt there. The beetle is native to the Palearctic region and has been introduced to North America, with records especially around Greater Vancouver.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults feed on pollen and nectar, often moving pollen between flowers.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Adults are found on decomposing wood, where their larvae act as predators.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
It originates from the Palearctic and has been introduced to North America, notably near Greater Vancouver.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
The species name is often misspelled as "plumbeus" in the literature.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 1 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Washington.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Melyridae)
.png){kind=link}
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasytes_plumbea
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.