Pest?

[henry]

I was sent a photo by a gardener who for the first time is growing garlic and this creature was eating the leaves. It was between an inch and an inch and a half long. Does anyone know what it is? UnknowenPICT0474.jpg

[dice]

A garlic eating bug? What a menace! (A lot of people use
garlic and cayenne sprays to repel other bugs, like mites.)

[henry]

Thanks all a name has been found it is an Oil Beetle.

Henry

[robin303]

Thanks Henery, I spent 3 hrs looking that thing up and could never find it.

[Worth1]

We know them as blister bugs here in Texas.

the reason being is when they crawl on you they will cause blisters.
I have seen some years where they are in the thousands on the porch at night.
the ones we have here are gray in color and it is one of the few bugs that has struck fear in me since I was a little one.

For good reason, here is a picture of what they can do.


Here is a link to the blister bug.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blister_beetle

This is one nasty critter!!!!
They excrete the chemical Cantharidon from the joints in their legs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantharidin
If you read the above link it tells you that this is where they get ((Spanish fly)) from.

Some of you older folks may remember the stories about this stuff.

Worth

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by robin303

Thanks Henery, I spent 3 hrs looking that thing up and could never find it.

Thats funny, 3 hours!!!

I knew what it was from the start, I never got around to posting about it as I was busy.

Sorry.

Worth

[robin303]

I study bugs and when I saw he was from BC [Henry & the bug] the closest ones I could find were the beetles of all places from the UK. I figured they came over on a ship like the Red ant in New Orleans way back.