Texas Beetle Information

Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn

Cleft-headed Blister Beetle

Eupompha fissiceps (LeConte, 1858)

Family Meloidae, Subfamily Meloinae, Tribe Cerocomini

Dog Canyon, Otero Co., New Mexico
August 02, 2006 (Bob Barber)

These fantastic looking beetles seemed to be attracted to my blue shirt. I had 5-6 land on me.
Habitat was high desert, dominated by Creosote Bush, Torry Yucca, and two kinds of Prickly Pear...little else.
The underside of the abdomen was also brilliant metallic green.

Texas County Records for Eupompha fissiceps

County Record Data from E.G. Riley, Sept. 2006

Range: Arizona to Texas, Mexico (Blackwelder, 1944-57)

Abundance: Can be locally abundant but spotty and not seen every year. (E.G. Riley, pers. comm.)

Adult Food: Said to like to visit flowering creosote bush. (E.G. Riley, pers. comm.)

Similar Species:

There are 12 species of Eupompha in the southwestern U.S. and Mexico. (Arnett et al, 2002)

Texas Taxa:

Eupompha fissiceps (LeConte)
Eupompha viridis (Horn)

Note: In males of some Eupompha species head is deeply notched at tip and front tarsi are enlarged. (White, 1983)

Weblinks:

Blister Beetles - Bart Drees & John Jackman, 1999.
Blister Beetles - Chris Sansone & Allen Knutson, 2002.
Blister Beetles - Featured Creatures - Richard B. Selander & Thomas R. Fasulo, 2003.

Etymology: Eupompha fissiceps (LeConte, 1858)

eu (G). Good, well
pomph, -0, =us (G). A blister
fiss, -i, -ur (L). A cleft
=ceps (NL). The head

Biography:

John LeConte (1825-1883) - University of Nebraska-Lincoln State Museum
John Lawrence LeConte (1825-1883) - Wikipedia

References:

Arnett, R.H., Jr., M.C. Thomas, P.E. Skelley & J.H. Frank. (editors). 2002. American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press. 861 pp.

Blackwelder, R. E. 1944-57. Checklist of the Coleopterous Insects of Mexico, Central America, The West Indies, and South America, Parts 1-6. United States National Museum, Bulletin 185. Washington, D.C. xii + 1492 pp.

Borror, D.J. 1960. Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms. National Press Books, Palo Alto. 134 pp.

Dillon, L.S. 1952. The Meloidae (Coleoptera) of Texas. American Midland Naturalist, 48(2): 330-420.

LeConte, J.L. 1858. Descriptions of new species of Coleoptera, chiefly collected by the United States and Mexican boundary commission, under Major W.H. Emory, U.S.A. Proceedings Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 10: 59-89.

Pinto, J.D. 1979. A classification of the genus Eupompha (Coleoptera: Meloidae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 195: 391-459.

Pinto, J.D. 1983. A new Eupompha from Baja California with additional information on E. decolorata (Horn) (Coleoptera: Meloidae). Pan-Pacific Entomologist, 58(1982): 184-195.