Visitor to my Garden: Friend or Foe?

The other day while making my daily rounds throughout my garden, I noticed a bug on one of my Phlox that I did not recognize.  Immediately I thought what damage is it causing?  I did not observe any damage to the leaves, but I thought I better find out the name of this strange bug.

My favorite book on identifying insects is “Guide to Colorado Insects” by Whitney Cranshaw and Boris Kondratieff.  Sure enough on page 35 I found my strange visitor to my garden.  The visitor was a Goldenrod Soldier Beetle.  The soldier beetle are close relatives of the fireflies, but they do not produce that magical flashing like their relatives.  Growing up in PA. I remember catching fireflies in jars just to see their flash up close.

The soldier beetles belong to the Order: Coleoptera and the beetle Family: Cantharidae.  These beetles feed on over 100 different insects i.e. aphids, spider mites and cabbage loopers.  Soldier beetles are nicknamed, “leatherwings because of their soft, cloth-like wings covers.  Additionally, their wing covers are brightly colored reminiscent of uniforms. 

 I was relieved to discover that my visitor was a good bug for my garden.  Now my thoughts were how to get more and keep them around?  Doing more research, I found they also love pollen.  I also found that there is on the market a bug lure called ” Rescue! Soldier Bug Attractor”.  It is a cone with pheromone inside to attract the soldier bugs.  I think I will just plant more flowers and hope I see more soldier beetles in the garden.

I did find one strange tidbit.  Normally the soldier beetles are not seen till late in the season like August and September.  So I am a little perplexed why this one is out so early.  I just hope it stays around and invites his/her relatives.