Cactus bug

Yesterday I found a metallic blue beetle crawling on one of my Opuntia polyacantha var. hystricina plants.


Metallic blue beetle maneuvering an Opuntia

I’m by no means a coleopterist and don’t know if this beetle is a potential “cactus eater” but I liked its metallic blue exoskeleton and the agility with which it was maneuvering the spines so I let it be.


Cactus bug – beetle crawling on an Opuntia

The Opuntia polyacantha var. hystricina plants the beetle was crawling on are grown from seeds collected at the Tonto Platform, Grand Canyon. I had planned to grow the plants in an outside bed but unfortunately they are not winter hardy in Denmark so now they stay in my unheated greenhouse and are developing into a rather uncontrollable, sprawling, space consuming mass – so it wouldn’t harm much if the beetle actually decided to take a bite or two ;-)