Thoracic Checkered Beetle

Neorthopleura thoracica · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Cleridae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Thoracic Checkered Beetle
Photo: Brandon Johnson, CC BY

The Thoracic Checkered Beetle lives in the Caribbean region, Central America, and parts of North America. Adult beetles hunt and eat other wood-boring beetles.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

Adults prey on wood-boring beetles.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 31 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Kansas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Connecticut, Texas, Massachusetts, Ohio.

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

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Thoracic Checkered Beetle photo 2
Photo: CatherineK, CC BY-SA
Thoracic Checkered Beetle photo 3
Photo: geosesarma, CC BY
Thoracic Checkered Beetle photo 4
Photo: Emily Franzen, CC BY
Thoracic Checkered Beetle photo 5
Photo: Daniel Carr, CC BY

Questions people ask

What does the Thoracic Checkered Beetle eat?

Adults feed on wood-boring 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 nutalliPilose Checkered BeetlePilose Checkered BeetleChariessa pilosa

Sources

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

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.