Bug FAQContracted Darkling Beetle
Meracantha contracta · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Tenebrionidae
Adult Meracantha contracta are small, 11-14 mm long beetles with a bronze-black color that starts creamy-white when they emerge and darkens with age. They live under bark and in rotting wood, feeding on lichens or bark, and they develop through egg, larva, pupa (10-14 days) and adult stages.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The beetle has a large pronotum and very convex elytra, giving it a humped look, and both body parts are covered in punctures. Its color is bronze-black, but newly emerged adults are creamy-white and darken as they mature.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure 11 to 14 mm in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They are found under bark and on dead tree stumps, especially where lichens and moss grow. The species overwinters as larvae inside rotting logs.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
In the wild they feed on arboreal lichens or bark. In captivity larvae can be raised on chick feed mixed with a little leaf litter.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
They go through the four typical beetle stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. The pupal stage lasts about 10 to 14 days.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adult beetles live for a few months.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Meracantha contracta is native to North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 31 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, Alabama, Indiana, Tennessee, Maryland.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Where do they live?
They live under bark and on dead stumps with lichens or moss, and larvae overwinter in rotting logs.
Source: Wikipedia
What do they eat?
In nature they feed on lichens or bark; in captivity larvae can be raised on chick feed and leaf litter.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Tenebrionidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meracantha_contracta
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.