Field Guide

The giant stag beetle is enormous, the males reaching 1½ inches in length without the mandibles, and nearly 2½ with them. Look for them on rotting logs in forests in early summer. They’re also attracted to lights.

The six-spotted tiger beetle is probably the most familiar tiger beetle in Missouri. It’s most often seen in spring, as it darts in and out of trails just ahead of hikers.

The bronzed tiger beetle is usually seen patrolling the shores of creeks, rivers, and other bodies of water, in open areas with sand, gravel, or clay soils.

The rhubarb weevil has a dusty, bright yellow coating and feeds on rhubarb, dock, thistles, and other plants in the smartweed or buckwheat and sunflower families.

Nut and acorn weevils, in genus Curculio, have very long, narrow beaks and chunky bodies. Females bore tiny holes into developing acorn, hickory, or other nuts, and deposit their eggs within.

The cocklebur weevil is about ¼ to ½ inch long. The larvae bore inside the stems and roots of cocklebur, ragweed, and other plants in the sunflower family.

Ebony bugs are definitely true bugs, but they look a lot like tiny, shiny black beetles. Their bodies are fat ovals. They’re almost always seen on flower clusters and immature seeds, often on members of the carrot or parsley family.

The common claybank tiger beetle, or green-margined tiger beetle, occurs on dirt clay soils in open areas in spring and, less abundantly, in late summer. Color varies from red to purple to green. The outer shell edges are often edged with shiny green.

Fungus weevils are a family of beetles that differ from other weevils by their broad, flat bills and clubbed, but not elbowed, antennae. It's a diverse group, but many do feed on bracket mushrooms and other fungi.

Rove beetles usually have very short wing covers, so several of their hind abdominal segments are exposed. Typically fast movers, they often flip up their abdomen tips when frightened. This is a huge family of beetles.