On a multiflora rose branch, low to the ground in the cemetery
Jason Sharp;
Balm Boyette Preserve, Hillsborough County, Florida
Saw several of these large insects on the beach. Easily 2" long.
Blister beetles are beetles (Coleoptera) of the family Meloidae, so called for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin. There are approximately 7,500 known species worldwide. Many are conspicuous and some aposematically colored, announcing their toxicity to would-be predators.
