Texas Flea Marsh Beetle

Ora texana · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Scirtidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Texas Flea Marsh Beetle
Photo: Justin Williams, CC BY

Its range covers parts of the southeastern U.S. and Central America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It lives in habitats ranging from Virginia through Texas and down to Costa Rica.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its native range includes the United States from Virginia to Texas and reaches into Costa Rica.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 10 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Georgia, Alabama.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Texas Flea Marsh Beetle photo 2
Photo: Annika Lindqvist, CC BY
Texas Flea Marsh Beetle photo 3
Photo: IDClaire, CC BY
Texas Flea Marsh Beetle photo 4
Photo: Alexis Smith, CC BY
Texas Flea Marsh Beetle photo 5
Photo: Jeff Clark, CC BY

Sources

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

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.

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.