Latin Name:  Malachius aeneus (Linnaeus, 1758)
                        (R. Bercha, det.)

Length:  6 - 8 mm

Range:  Alberta

Habitat:  Flowers

Time of year seen: Late April to Early July (Additional Sightings)

Diet: Insects and pollen

Other:  This member of the soft-winged flower beetles (family Melyridae) is an exotic that was accidentally introduced from Europe.  It has prospered in its new home becoming one of the most common flower beetles encountered.  The beetle is now found across much of southern Canada and the United States.  Records exist for British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.  The diet of the adult beetle consists of pollen while the larva are predators of other arthropods on the ground.  Adult beetles are commonly found on the flowers of herbaceous plants.   (Marshall, 2006 & D.E. Bright, Melyridae; Checklist of Beetles of Canada and Alaska)