#3165 · 🪲 beetles
Common Red Soldier Beetle
🇳🇱 Kleine rode weekschild ·Rhagonycha fulva
8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The common red soldier beetle ( Rhagonycha fulva ), also misleadingly known as the bloodsucker beetle , and popularly known in England as the Hogweed Bonking Beetle is a species of soldier beetle (Cantharidae).
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 1,642 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #3 most seen of the beetles in NL.
- 70,188 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1763 (263 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Common Red Soldier Beetle
- Nederlands
- Kleine rode weekschild
- scientific name
- Rhagonycha fulva
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Coleoptera
- family
- Cantharidae
- sightings in NL
- 1,642
- sightings in Europe
- 52,665
- sightings worldwide
- 70,188
- GBIF records in NL
- 54,591
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1763 by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli
relatives· Cantharidae
#3171 📷 9Dark Sailor Beetle
🇳🇱 Zwartpootsoldaatje
Cantharis fusca
👀 779 in NL
#3172 📷 10Geel soldaatje
Cantharis livida
👀 770 in NL
#3233 📷 10Cantharis decipiens
Cantharis decipiens
👀 148 in NL
#3246 📷 7Zwart soldaatje
Cantharis pellucida
👀 132 in NL
#3269 📷 10Zwart soldaatje
Cantharis obscura
👀 93 in NL
#3274 📷 10Grey Sailor Beetle
🇳🇱 Gestreepte weekkever
Cantharis nigricans
👀 87 in NL
#3314 📷 10Moerasweekschildkever
Silis ruficollis
👀 64 in NL
#3319 📷 10Cantharis flavilabris
Cantharis flavilabris
👀 58 in NL
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 62456, Wikidata Q386268, GBIF 4429760, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.