While I was working on this particular beetle, I kept thinking of Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are.” A furry bear of an insect with claws — and would you look at those antennae?
Meet Dermestes maculatus, best known as the Hide Beetle, a member of the family Dermestidae.
The Hide Beetle is what I call an undertaker, a custodian.
It feeds on carrion. In this way, the Hide Beetle plays a crucial role in the decomposition and breakdown of organic matter, which, in turn, accelerates nutrient recycling in ecosystems. I’d add that all this cleaning up of things that have passed saves us from a horrible pile-up of stench and pathogens. We are healthier for having Hide Beetles around.
Bone Cleaner and Crime Solver
They’re found worldwide, except in Antarctica. Beyond their custodial duties, Hide Beetles play a role in estimating postmortem intervals in forensic science, contributing to criminal investigations in ways most of us never think about. They’re also used in museums and universities for cleaning bones in skeleton preparation — a method that’s been around for 150 years, particularly for small animals with delicate bones. Dermestid beetle colonies, as they’re called, can strip a skeleton clean without damaging it in ways that chemical or manual methods can’t match.
Like a ride into Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, wouldn’t you say?
Most of us — unless we’re cleaning bones in an academic setting or investigating a crime scene — will never see a Hide Beetle in person. I can hear the collective sigh of relief.
This is part of an ongoing series I return to in between larger bodies of work: a way of pausing after a long project. Painting something small and finite, and diving into its ecology, feeds both my creativity and my curiosity. It’s satisfying to finish a watercolor illustration in a couple of days versus the 3-4 weeks it takes to complete a full-scale watercolor.
No matter how butt-ugly disgusting a bug might first appear, I keep finding that they really do serve a purpose. We’re better off having them around. Enter into the peace of wild things and those that take to the skies.
Explore More From the Insectarium
A Bio-Control Hero:Find out about a centuries-old interweaving of the invasive Leaf Spurge (plant), how it got to North America, and the tiny beetle that effectively saves our native prairies.
What Is It About Stink Bugs?Follow my fascination with their design to learn that not all Stink Bugs are invasive, and to understand why they ventured into your house. Spoiler alert: They just aren’t that into you.
The Benign Boxelder Bug:You probably see them, en masse, making a pilgrimage up the trunk of a Boxelder tree. Why do they do this? Find out more about one of the most native and benevolent insects in North America.
Today, I give you an ecological hero story about a little beetle that gives us biocontrol over a very invasive plant, the Leafy Spurge. When I saw the video reel by @saintpaulnaturalresourcesabout releasing the Leafy Spurge Beetle (Aphthona lacertosa) at Pig’s Eye Regional Park as a biocontrol against invasive Leafy Spurge, I got curious.
I have been on an insect art study indulgence lately. In the wild, the Leafy Spurge Beetle is black and about the size of a flax seed. I took liberties with its color. Perhaps I have gone outside the realm of science and created a whole new species of Aphthona.
But how did the Leafy spurge get here in the first place? The first two lines on the Minnesota Department of Agriculture web page on biocontrol and the Leafy Spurge Beetle are these:
“Leafy Spurge made its way into Minnesota in 1890 with a bushel of oats from Russia. By 1992, it was estimated that 800,000 acres were infested with Leafy Spurge in the state, including the Twin Cities area.”
Oats, Empire, and an Accidental Hitchhiker
Oats? From Russia? What was going on in Minnesota in the 1890s?
For that answer, we need to go back to the time of Catherine the Great. During her reign, Russia had invited German-speaking Mennonite farmers to settle in the southern grain belt of the Russian Empire (Ukraine, the Volga region, and Black Sea steppe) in the late 1700s. By settling to farm in these regions, they were promised religious and civil exemptions, including freedom from compulsory enlistment into the military. Heck of a deal if you can get it in Russia.
All good things came to an end, however. In 1871, Russia revoked these exemptions, and that caused tens of thousands of these German farmers to emigrate, heading straight for the Dakotas, Minnesota, and the Canadian prairies. Here they found the climate and soil to be strikingly similar to what they had farmed in Russia. If you are going to farm on another continent, best to bring seeds with you. And so these farmers did. What was tangled in their oat seed stores was — you guessed it — Leafy Spurge seeds.
There was also a formal agricultural exchange happening at the time, too. The USDA’s Plant Introduction office was actively sending seed grain from Russia to the north-central United States. Contamination from weed seed was highly likely given how rudimentary seed-cleaning methods were at the time.
Leafy Spurge Beetle vs Leafy Spurge
Both the Leafy Spurge plant and the Leafy Spurge beetle are native to Europe and Asia, where the beetle controls the onslaught of Leafy Spurge from taking over prairies and farm fields. Because the Leafy Spurge beetle is not native to Minnesota, the MDA spent a lot of time researching the beetle as a biocontrol species. Nobody wants a repeat disaster like the one that happened with rats and mongooses on the Hawaiian islands.
But it’s not the Leafy Spurge beetle itself that controls the Leafy Spurge. Rather, it’s their larvae. The Leafy Spurge beetle is known to bury its eggs at the base of the Leafy Spurge. When the eggs hatch, hungry little larvae start eating away at the plant’s rhizome root system.
So no, my Aphthona lacertosa watercolor doesn’t look exactly like the real thing. But the real thing has been rewriting a 130-year-old mistake. Funny thing about ecological messes — they arrive as an accident and leave as an afterthought. Most people will never know how this one’s been handled. Until now.
More stories of insects (in art), my curious, creative entomologist friend:
What Is It About Stink Bugs:What are they, do they have non-human predators, and what are they doing in my house?
Just Dancing In The Dark:I was tempted to call this piece “Turn Off Your Damn Porch Lights So I Can Find Me a Lover,” as light pollution is a huge problem for these magical creatures.
The Hide Beetle:A fuzzy bear of an insect that brings to mind Maurice Sendak’s “Where The Wild Things Are,” and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. But this beetle has been helping humans for hundreds of years, in more ways than one.
I always fall for the bad boys — even the stinky ones. When I first spotted a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug clinging to our window screen, I thought I was looking at an alluring tiny dinosaur, armed with thick patterned plates (a heraldic shield shape) — it was their pattern and coloration that won my heart.
Stink bugs, Halyomorpha halys (like Boxelder bugs), belong to the order Hemiptera, or True bugs. True bugs can’t bite. Instead, their mouthpieces are of the piercing, sucking kind — the very inspiration for all those alien-like horror movies.
The Human Problem With Stink Bugs
Stink bugs arrived in the United States unintentionally and undetected from East Asia somewhere in the late 1990s. By 2010, Stink Bugs were showing up in Minnesota. I have only seen two in recent years.
Stink bugs get their namesake, you guessed it, from the foul smell the insect emits when it feels threatened or is crushed. Some say it smells like cilantro. Needless to say, their noxious smell keeps away any and all predators.
Without predators, they are free to eat anything they want, somewhere in the range of 300 plant species. What they really love to eat, though, are fruits and vegetables — which is why agricultural industries are up in arms against these hungry suckers. The insect’s taking of a fruit’s fluid leads to deformed seeds, and it’s a downward spiral from there — the potential spread of harmful plant pathogens and rot.
Our climate, especially the East Coast states, is ideal for Stink bugs to produce at least one successful generation and up to six generations in warmer states such as Louisiana and Georgia. As I write this, I’m wondering if unchecked populations of Stink bugs are causing the price of fruit and vegetables to rise. It hasn’t made the news, so I can only speculate.
The good news is that while the agricultural effects of Stink bugs are alarming, their control is a priority of the United States Department of Agriculture! (At least it was. Who knows in this current administration). This government body developed an artificial phenomenon that can bait traps, an effective means but not the only one to control Stink bugs.
It’s still a tough battle. Stink bugs can fly. You get rid of an infestation of Stink bugs, and a new population can move right back in. Did I say no predators? As of 2012, native wasps and birds have taken to eating Stink bugs. Perhaps it was only a matter of time. I prefer biocontrol methods over insecticides to create balance in the nature of things.
Not All Stink Bugs are Invasive
If you look closely at a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, the alternating light and dark bands on its antennae and along the edge of its abdomen aren’t just a lovely pattern — they’re a field mark. That banding is one of the best ways to distinguish it from native stink bug species, several of which look similar at a glance but play very different roles in the ecosystem. Some native stink bugs are even considered beneficial, preying on other pest insects. Lumping them all together under “Kill It!” flattens that distinction — and honestly, it’s part of why I drew this one closely to show its banding.
Why is There a Stink Bug in My House?
Researching insects and their ecology can be disparaging. Inevitably, I will find a dozen websites all proposing ways to kill them. Search “stink bug in my house,” and you’ll get twelve websites in a row telling you how to seal your windows, mix vinegar traps, and eliminate the problem. Fair enough — nobody wants one crawling across the ceiling at 2:00 am. But almost none of them answer the question underneath the question: why is it actually here, and what is it doing? That’s where it gets interesting.
Stink Bugs Are Not Trying to Bother You
Stink Bugs don’t want to have anything to do with you. It’s simply seeking shelter. As temperatures drop in fall, it looks for a tight, protected space to spend the winter in a dormant state called diapause. Tree bark crevices are the Stink Bug’s natural choice. Your home’s siding, window frames, and attic gaps are, unfortunately, a very good substitute. This behavior is called overwintering, and it’s not unique to stink bugs — lots of insects do it. The difference is that stink bugs do it in large, visible aggregations, and they do it indoors when given the chance, which is why one bug in October can mean a dozen behind your baseboards by January.
While they are harmless to humans, aside from their smell, Stink Bugs cannot reproduce indoors.
So What Do You Actually Do About Stink Bugs?
Pest-control advice isn’t wrong; it’s just incomplete. Bringing poisons into your home isn’t a healthy answer, either. Sealing entry points — gaps around windows, doors, utility lines, and attic vents — is genuinely the most effective long-term approach, because it addresses the shelter-seeking behavior rather than fighting the symptom of one bug at a time. Vacuuming up Stink bugs (instead of squishing them) avoids releasing the alarm pheromone that makes squishing them famously stinky. And in spring, they’ll leave the way they came, looking for the outdoors again on their own.
But the more interesting move, at least to me, is just noticing them. A creature that’s traveled this far, adapted this well, and shows up at the edges of our lawns and our windowsills is worth a second look.
A woman artist who is curious about bugs? What next?
The Benign Boxelder Bug:From childhood memories to the ugly cousin of the Maples, a story about the real purpose of Boxelder Bugs.
The Hide Beetle:This beetle cleans bones for museums and solves murders.
Ladies of State:Twelve stunning representatives of the 50 ladybug species that call Minnesota home. There’s folklore involved, too.
You know you are looking at a female Boxelder tree (Acer negundo) (considered the ugly duckling in the maple tree family) by the swarming Boxelder bugs (Boisea trivittata) up her trunk. I think of this as a spiritual pilgrimage in the insect world. That’s as far as the romantic concept goes, for it’s the fruit of the female Boxelder tree that the Boxelder bugs favor.
Native & True.
Native to North America, Boxelder bugs are one of the most benign insects, as far as I can tell from entomology sites. They are true bugs, meaning they can’t bite. Their mouthparts are adapted for sucking. True bugs are in the order of Hemiptera, the order of stink bugs and cicadas.
I’ve often seen Boxelder bugs in late summer as the light begins to shift towards autumn. While Boxelder bugs are strong flyers, they prefer to walk where they want to go. I watch as they march in a thick black and red trail across the path to climb up the adjacent Boxelder tree trunk.
I suspect the reason people freak out about Boxelder bugs is that they tend to congregate in large numbers on the sunny south and west sides of houses. They only want to stay warm. If they happen to enter a home, it’s because there was a crack, a space in a window sill, an opening to the indoors. I doubt the intrusion is intentional, for Boxelder bugs cannot breed indoors.
Honestly, I think Boxelder bugs are aesthetically beautiful. It’s the insect’s colors that appeal, a palette I associate with Japanese aesthetics. Perhaps this is wrong of me to state this, yet it’s how my Western mind works.
I have a long list of reasons why Boxelder bugs are completely benign. They don’t carry disease, nor do they threaten crops. Boxelder bugs can’t bite you. They do produce a bad smell when swashed, which is why birds and other insects avoid them. However, Boxelders do have a defensive odor that smells sweet like green apples, which they emit when sensing danger.
What good are Boxelder bugs, ecology speaking? Like every living thing, Boxelder bugs have a life span. When they pass away, they become part of the nutrient cycle, returning to the earth and helping support soil health, one of the most important resources we have. Healthy soil means food, balance, and above all, an extreme powerhouse in carbon sequestration, more than trees, in fact. In knowing this, I hope that the common Boxelder bug be held in reverence.
Like More Bug Art & Stories? Check out these posts.
Ladies of State: A tale of childhood memories, folklore, and Minnesota ladybugs.
When was the last time you watched a ladybug crawl up to your finger? As she reaches the tip, she opens her spotted shell to unfurl her wings and fly away while you, mesmerized by this small miracle, make a wish.
These are more childhood memories than everyday experiences, of summer days that seemed to go on forever, a time when ladybugs were everywhere.
I love vintage entomology plates and prints that illustrate the abundance of colors, shapes, and designs in insects. They throw the yuck-factor bias humans have toward insects right out the window. This was the initial spark for this piece.
I stand corrected in thinking we have only 12 species of ladybugs (beetles) that make Minnesota their home. We have 50 species of ladybugs, although three ladybug species are in serious decline.
Ladies of State. Minnesota Native and Naturalized Lady Beetles with One Invasive Beetle. Archival ink and watercolor nature illustration based on my love of ladybugs and vintage entomology fine art prints. This was a way to honor each lady beetle’s color, shape, and design. 18 x 24 inches (artwork); 31 x 37 inches (framed) $1250.This piece is showing in my upcoming exhibit at The Artistry Atrium Gallery, July 17 through September 20, 2026. If interested in learning more and purchasing this piece, please contact the artist. Limited edition prints are available, too.
That might not seem like much, yet everything is connected with everything else. The loss of one species means biodiversity loss and the loss of all the ecological services that species provide.
The Trouble with Species Introductions
The prime suspect? The invasive (possibly the most invasive species ever) Asian Beetle. However, she arrived in North America by no fault of her own. Her best trait? A voracious appetite. The Asian Beetle was deliberately introduced during the 1960s and 70s to control out-of-control aphid populations that were destroying crops.
Be careful what you wish for. The Asian Beetle’s appetite has her gobbling up other ladybug species’ eggs and larvae. There’s always a paradox with invasive species.
Ladybug Folklore
The folklore, religious connotations, and rhymes about ladybugs date back to the 16th century. Farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary to please, please, please save their crops from being destroyed by a plague of plant-eating pests. As the story goes, Mother Mary sends the ladybug, also known as the “Marybug” or “Our Lady’s Bug.” Historically, ladybugs are associated with protection and good fortune.
No wonder I want to see more of them.
Every kid has their “bug phase,” as noted by renowned and celebrated scientist and entomologist E.O. Wilson. It’s just some of us never grow out of it. I am fascinated by their design, their unique legs with little hooks to hold onto blades of grass on a windy day.
Taking a childhood memory further, let’s not forget the Mother Goose rhythm we grew up with:
Ladybird, ladybird, Fly away home, Your house is on fire And your children all gone; All except one And that’s little Ann, And she had crept under The warming pan.
Of course, there are many iterations. A rhythm like this was recited over fields to save the ladybug, who did them the service of taking care of the crop-damaging insects, before farmers set fire to stubble fields. Let’s hope the ladybugs listened and flew away home.
A note about ladybug color. While living only one to two years, some ladybugs darken with age, and scientists have been trying to figure out why this happens.
Ladybug Identification Legend
For the curious and those wanting to know the names of each of the Ladies of State, I give you a run-down of each, along with a little factoid. Sadly, most of these lady beetles have interesting, romantic common names. Instead, they’re named for the number of spots on their elytra that protect the delicate flight wings underneath and the body of the beetle.
STARTING FROM TOP LEFT TO RIGHT
Convergent Lady Beetle (Hippodamia convergens). They live in a wide variety of habitats, including gardens. However, they are being pushed out by the invasive Asian Lady Beetle. When it turns cold, the Convergent Lady Beetle forms large groups called aggregations to stay warm during hibernation.
Eye-Spotted Lady Beetle (Anatis mali). These are easy to identify, but not so easy to spot. They spend most of their time in the canopies of trees, especially in conifers, as these trees attract the aphids they prefer. They can consume 5,000 aphids in their lifespan.
Cardinal Ladybird (Novius cardinals). Originally native to Australia, but brought to North America for biological control. Their primary food beyond aphids and mites is the Cottony Cushion Scale, a pest that eats citrus and native trees.
Ladybugs: Second row 4-6
Fourteen-Spotted Ladybird Beetle (Propylea quatuordecimpunctata). This beetle comes in a variety of colors and patterns, from cream to yellow to orange, but never red. They were brought to North America in hopes of controlling Russian Wheat Aphids. The Fourteen-Spotted Ladybird Beetle can fly 37 miles per hour and travel up to 70 miles before landing again.
Fifteen-Spotted Lady Beetle (Anatis labiculata). They can come in white, orange, or light gray to dark purple in color, and can be seen from April through July, just not in your garden. The Fifteen-Spotted Lady Beetle likes to hang out in forests (much like this artist does).
Thirteen-Spotted Lady Beetle (Hippodamia tredecimpunctata). She’s a larger lady, with an elongated oval body in a reddish-orange. You can find them in the wet meadows, marshes, lakeshores, and flood plains of Minnesota.
Ladybugs: Third row 7-9
Seven-Spotted Ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata). This is the quintessential ladybug we remember from our childhood. You’ll find her in many different habitats, from your garden to meadows, fields, and forests. She, too, is a naturalized citizen of our state, brought to North America as a biological control against aphids. They are thriving here, but sadly declining in their native ranges in Europe.
Pink-spotted Lady Beetle (Coleomegilla maculata). They live where they can find prey, their favorite, you guessed it, aphids. But they also eat mites, insect eggs and larvae, and partake in nectar, water, and pollen. Pollen makes up 50% of their dietary intake. The big bio-benefit the Pink-spotted Lady Beetle has is that she is a predator of eggs of several moth species that eat corn crops. This helps farmers avoid using harmful chemicals to control the moths.
Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle (Psyllobora vigintimaculata). Also known as the Wee-tiny Ladybug. Instead of aphids, the Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle likes to eat mildew off of plants and will go for fungus as well. In the spring, you might catch a sighting of the Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle on skunk cabbage plants or in shrub-like vegetation.
Ladybugs: Third row 10-12
Three-Banded Lady Beetle (Coccinella trifasciata). This is by far the rarest of ladybugs in Minnesota. The reason is likely due to being outcompeted for habitat and food by non-native ladybugs, but also habitat loss and pesticide use.
Two-Spotted Ladybug (Adalia bipunctata). They have to fight for their food. The gall-forming aphids that they like to eat have soldiers to fight back the ladybugs to protect their aphid colonies. This species of ladybug is also in steep decline, not just in Minnesota but in many states. Scientists are not certain as to why. One plausible reason is that 80-90% of the Two-Spotted Ladybug offspring are female. The low number of males might be caused by a bacterium found only in females, a bacterium that kills male embryos in newly laid eggs.
Asian Lady Beetle (Harmonia axyridis). They get mistaken for native ladybugs and are challenging to correctly identify because they can vary in color, spot count, and spot sizes. She’s also known as the Japanese Ladybug and is known as the most invasive insect in Minnesota, but is also considered the most invasive species in the world. Originally, like non-native ladybugs, the Asian Lady Beetle was brought to North America as a bio-pest control of aphids.
Want more stories and art about insects? Wander over to these posts.
Prairie Sovereign: Determined never to paint a Monarch butterfly, I find a different approach to painting watercolors.
Just Dancing in the Dark. Magic at night and a cherished childhood memory — why are fireflies endangered, and what can we do about it?
It’s tempting to call this piece Turn Off Your Damn Porch Lights So I Can Find Me a Lover. This is a major issue for fireflies in Minnesota (and elsewhere) trying to find a mate. Night light pollution.
When I was a little girl, my brother and I would run out to the end of the backyard where the terrain dipped like a ditch. This space held moisture and thick vegetation. Perfect for fireflies. There were so many fireflies then, just dancing in the dark.
Common Eastern Fireflies in flight. Their opposite, east and west-facing positions, tell us two things. As the artist, I am seeking balance in a chaotic time. My calm Japanese aesthetics are at play. Second, their opposite-facing flight conveys the reality that fireflies have a hard time finding a mate due to too much night light pollution. This piece was intentionally made on brown parchment using archival ink and professional-grade colored pencils. It measures 28 x 20 inches.
There, we would collect these curiosities in Mason jars. We would bring them indoors, into the light for closer inspection and to watch them pulse light from their abdomens. This was a catch-and-release exercise, though, years later, I regret taking them out of circulation. Maybe all the females had been spoken for during their jarred captivity.
Minnesota is home to 19 species of fireflies, but to me, spotting them is a rare joy and a childhood memory. Some call them lightning bugs. In truth, fireflies are actually beetles.
They belong to the family Lampyridae, producing light through bioluminescence.
Like the four horsemen of the Apocalypse —
Here are the reasons why firefly numbers are declining —the same reasons why many species we hold dear are declining.
Habitat Loss: Urban development (and suburban development) and land-use changes destroy natural habitats.
Pesticide Use: No surprise. It’s poison. Indirectly, pesticide use kills off food sources for other species, like fireflies.
Light Pollution: Hard to find a mate with the lights on.
Climate Change: Changes in climate patterns, especially droughts, affect firefly habitats and life cycles.
So what is a firefly lover to do? It’s not as overwhelming as you might think.
To protect fireflies in Minnesota from climate change, it’s important to preserve their natural habitats by maintaining moist areas and reducing light pollution.
1. That could be as simple as letting a bit of your yard re-wild. 2. Turn off your outdoor lighting. You’ll be reducing your electricity usage, too. 3. Avoid the use of pesticides. A no-brainer. 4. And my favorite tactic, creating diverse native plant gardens, can help support firefly populations. 5. Here is an excellent source for more information about firefly conservation.
Like sparks from a silent firecracker, their tiny lights dot the blackened night landscape seemingly to signal an SOS. If we can collectively do our part, perhaps the fireflies will rebound to give us a light show that magically returns us to memories of a slower, harmonious pace.
If You Love Insects As Much As I Do, You Might Enjoy These Posts, too.
Prairie Sovereign. I told myself I would never paint a Monarch butterfly. Ever. Find out what changed my mind.
Ladies of State. From childhood memories to curiosity, I dive into the world of ladybugs and their lore.
Your Turn.
Are there species, animals, insects, and/or plants you remember abundantly in your childhood, but now are a rare sight for you?
Are you, too, looking to find balance and calm during this chaotic time in our world’s history? Tell me about it. Jot your thoughts in the comments. I respond to all. Thank you for reading. You are always welcome here.
Once a month, usually on a quiet Tuesday morning, I send a short note from the studio, show new work in progress, upcoming exhibits, things that are inspiring me, what's on my nightstand, and the occasional shop offer just for subscribers.
It's a small, unhurried letter. Very much like me.
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Terra Kind Studio Co. is the creation of Kristin Maija Peterson, a life-long visual artist, writer, art director, and recovering graphic designer.
“I write stories about of my work to give you a deeper connection and understanding of the natural world. These stories blend of art, observation, experiences, and science. As a self-proclaimed “Beauty Hunter,” I represent and celebrate the wild, messy, and misunderstood ecosystems that are either ignored, destined to be controlled, or developed for human consumption. There is beauty and awe to be found in unexpected places, in the natural chaos of things. I hope your visit here inspires you to find your own beauty and wonderment in the natural world.”
Be kind to everything that lives and especially be kind to yourself.
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