Net-winged Beetle
Lycostomus sp.
A red-cloaked messenger with net-patterned wings
The Net-winged Beetle has soft, bright red elytra (wing cases) ridged with a crisscrossing, net-like pattern. Its body contains chemicals distasteful to predators, and its vivid red coloring serves as a warning signal — one that many harmless insects mimic in a classic case of Batesian mimicry.
Key figures
- Length
- About 10–16 mm long, entirely bright red or orange-red, with soft elytra
- Life cycle
- One generation per year; adults are most often seen in late spring and early summer
- Habitat
- Damp spots at the edges of broadleaf forest, in shrubland, and around rotting wood
- Diet
- Adults mostly visit flowers or do not feed at all; larvae prey on small invertebrates in rotting wood
- Warning coloration
- The bright red body is a warning signal to predators, backed by distasteful odors or toxins inside the body
- Mimicry model
- Serves as the model that many palatable insects mimic, forming part of a Müllerian mimicry ring
Life cycle
Egg → Larva (predatory, lives in rotting wood) → Pupa → Adult
Ecological role
The Net-winged Beetle carries chemicals distasteful to predators, and its bright red warning coloration has led many palatable insects to evolve similar colors and patterns, making it one of the core model species in a Müllerian mimicry ring.
Did you know
The Net-winged Beetle's red is not meant to attract mates but to warn off predators; many tasty beetles and moths have evolved nearly identical red markings, borrowing its bad reputation to avoid being eaten.
Range
Broadleaf forests of southern and southwestern mountainous China
Status
Common
Anatomy
- Elytra — The soft, flattened elytra are bright red, a classic example of warning coloration
- Net pattern — Crisscrossing ridges on the elytra form a net-like grid, the feature that gives the net-winged beetle family its name
- Antennae — The jet-black, saw-toothed antennae stand out sharply against the bright red body
- Compound eyes — The prominent, jet-black compound eyes sit at the front corners of the head
- Pronotum — The pronotum is likewise red, with edges that flare slightly outward
- Legs — The slender legs are mostly black, suited to quick movement among twigs and leaves
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