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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!goutal
From: goutal@decvax.UUCP (Kenneth G. "Kenn" Goutal)
Newsgroups: net.garden
Subject: red-and-black beetles
Message-ID: <390@decvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 25-Feb-84 14:04:11 EST
Article-I.D.: decvax.390
Posted: Sat Feb 25 14:04:11 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 26-Feb-84 00:44:27 EST
Organization: DEC UNIX Engineering Group
Lines: 31

Last fall, just before it got really cold, we were abruptly beseiged
by black-and-red beetles.  Once it got cold, they died off.
Now they're back.

They tend to congregate on our porch, which is a kneewall and glass
affair, totally uninsulated.  They especially like the door to the
house itself.  I've seen no indications of what they like to eat.
By the time they arrived last fall, there was no live vegetation.
So, I don't know what they might beseige around the yard once it
gets warm again.  For the duration, they just mill around on the
porch and occasionally sneak in when the door is open.  They don't
seem to fly much, but maybe they're just to cold for that.

They tend to be about 1/2" long, mostly black,
with a couple of broad crimson stripes diagonally across each side.
Haven't stopped to look closely enough to see whether the stripes
are *on* their wings or *under* them.

I've heard a couple of reports from neighbors of the same things.
All very sudden, last fall and just now;  never seen 'em before ever.

Anybody got any ideas what these buggers are?  What they eat?
(I.e. what flora they damage, or are they handy predators?)
How to get rid of them?

Oh;  I live in southeastern New Hampshire.
Apparently new or rare in this area, as I say.
Perhaps some of you from other parts of the country recognize them?

-- Kenn (decvax!goutal)