Steel-blue Cricket Hunter vs Jet Beetle
Side-by-side species comparison
| Attribute | Steel-blue Cricket Hunter | Jet Beetle |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Chlorion aerarium | Stenus comma |
| Order | Hymenoptera | Coleoptera |
| Family | Sphecidae | Staphylinidae |
| Size | 18-28 mm | 5-7 mm |
| Habitat | Deserts & Drylands | Ponds & Lakes |
| Diet | Predators | Predators |
| Regions | North America | Europe, Northern Asia |
| Conservation | Least Concern | Least Concern |
Steel-blue Cricket Hunter
A large metallic blue wasp that hunts field crickets and mole crickets. It drags paralyzed prey into burrows to provision its nest cells.
Did You Know?
It enters cricket burrows headfirst to sting and extract its prey from underground.
Jet Beetle
A tiny, goggle-eyed rove beetle that hunts with a remarkable extendable labium tipped with adhesive pads. It can also skim across water surfaces using a unique chemical propulsion mechanism.
Did You Know?
Stenus beetles secrete stenusine from pygidial glands, which lowers water surface tension behind them, propelling them across water at speeds up to 70 cm per second.