Pennsylvania Leatherwing Beetle

This Beetle has a fantastic appetite for aphids, making it both a free & organic pest controller! As a bonus it spends so much time wandering around flowers looking for aphids that it becomes a terrific pollinator as well. The texture on the wing covering is smooth & shiny, giving it the appearance of leather. As a defensive maneuver they're capable of secreting a foul chemical from glands near the tip of the abdomen. There were a great many of these flying from flower to flower today, but they must not have felt threatened, as everything smelled just fine! Ha! Better detail in Large :))