Size: 6-8.2mm

Seasonality: March-September

Distribution; n.NH-FL to AB-CO-CA; Mexico

Information: nocturnal and/or diurnal. Often seen on brightly coloured flowers during the day, and at porch lights, UV lights, and mercury vapour traps at night. Tend to prey upon small insects such as aphids, leaf beetle larvae, and gnats.   Dorsal colouration extremely variable.

Description: body: elongate-quadrate, semi-robust, flattened. Dorsal colouration: head dark metallic green, nearly black; pronotal disk yellow, orange, or red; elytral colouration extremely variable: see later description of the species' elytra. Head triangular, occiput constricted into a "neck". Surface of the head heavily punctate; eyes strongly bulging laterally, angles forward somewhat. Two, normal supraorbital setae over each eye. Clypeus with one seta on either lateral margin. Labrum narrow, short. Mandibles short, curved at the tips: outer margins glossy black, inner mandibular region dark orange. Palpi glossy black with rather inconspicuous pale tips. Scapus, pedicel, and first following antennomere (when alive) orange or red--should be of the same colour as the pronotal disk; the remaining segments should be dark. Sparse antennal pubescence begins on the scapus, ending on the first antennomere after the pedicel; dense pubescence begins on the second antennomere following the pedicel. Pronotum small, typically not much broader than the eye span; front margin curved inward; front angles acute, curved forward somewhat; lateral margins round; hind angles acute, weakly jut out laterally; basal margin sinuous. Elytra oblong; humeral shoulders round; apices truncate-squared, leaving the tip of the abdomen exposed. 7-8 shallow striae per elytron, intervals flat; 3rd stria with two small fovea, one near the apices, the other near the base of the elytron. 

ELYTRAL COLOURATION: 

Variant- 'M'-shaped, metallic green or bluish maculation on the base of the elytra (as seen on the specimen photos included on this page), followed by a large orange or red region, then an "o{}o"-shaped maculation of the same colour as that seen on the elytral base. After which the remaining elytral region is orange or red. 

Variant- See the previous colouration listing, but the dark apical macules are divided.

Variant- Head dark; pronotum dark or pale red; elytra fully metallic dark blue with one large red spot just below either humeral shoulder. 

Variant- See first description, but all orange patches are instead dark red, and the dark macule near the apices should be a solid bar, not wavy. Basal maculation reduced.

Ventral colouration: dark to pale orange or red, fully dependent on the colour of the pale dorsal regions. Ventral faces of the head dark, lower region of the gula pale. Legs are the same colour as the ventral faces, tarsi often dark, as are the 'knees'.