Beetles in the Cantharidae family - the soldier and sailor beetles

There are 103 species in Europe, and 41 species in Britain. They are known as soldier and sailor beetles because of the bright colours of the adults. On the right is a typical Cantharidae adult body shape.

Often the elytra (wing cases) are red, black, blue or yellow, and are relatively soft compared to other beetle families. The adults are usually found in vegetation on flower heads, and are active by day.

Both adults and larvae are carnivorous, but they will both occasionally feed on plants. The adults have a short life span, and are only seen in the warmer months of the year.

Cantharidae larvae

Below is a Cantharidae larva. The body is usually covered with velvety hair. The larva prefer to eat worms, slugs, snails and other larva, and they pupate in the soil in spring.

Cantharis nigricans, Grey sailor beetle, adult

Cantharis nigricans, the Grey sailor beetle

Left and on the right is an adult Cantharis nigricans, the Grey sailor beetle. The adult length is 7 - 11 mm, and they are often found in flowers.

On the right you can see it is scrabbling about the anthers of a buttercup. It is called the grey sailor because of the greyish down on the elytra (wing cases).

Cantharis nigricans, Grey sailor beetle, adult

Rhagonycha fulva, black-tipped soldier beetle, bloodsucker beetle

The Black-tipped soldier beetle on the left is also known as the bloodsucker.

Adults are 7 - 10 mm long and can be seen from June - September. They are commonly seen on flower heads in unmown grassy areas, and the one on the right is on a grass head. Adults feed on pollen and insects. Mating pairs are easy to spot as in this species mating takes a long time.

There are a few other species that are similar to this on but in the U. K. only this one has an orange-coloured first segment of the antennae with all the other segments being black. As one of the common names suggests it has black tipped elytra.

Larvae live in grassy tussocks or in the soil, and are predatory.

Rhagonycha fulva, black-tipped soldier beetle, bloodsucker beetle

Malthinus flaveolus, Yellow-tipped malthineadult

Malthinus flaveolus, the Yellow-tipped malthine

On the left is Malthinus flaveolus, the Yellow-tipped malthine. The adult length is 4.5 - 5.5 mm. The adults is usually found in woods or woodland edges in bushes and grasses from may - August. The larva lives in rotting wood.

The adults have yellow tips to the elytra, and the elytra are shorter than the abdomen.