What has bitten me?

[Jabby]

I have been bitten several times over the last 2 months by a small black shiny beetle. I am reacting badly to the bites and they swell and itch unbearably. I have taken antihistamines and have even been given steroids by the Doctor! Does anyone know what they are? I have been told they are flea-beetles but can not find any info about bites on the web.

[RATTER15]

I have been a pest controller for 13 years and never heard of these black beetles biting people or any other beetle. Flea beetles are a pest of trees etc not humans.

Where are getting these bites, in bed, in the garden Etc, are sure they are black.

[Jabby]

Thank's Ratter for your reply. They are not bed-bugs! My friend in Sussex says they sound like a tiny beetle that infests rape seed? I live in SW London and have a large area of grass at the back of my house. I take the dogs out in the evening for a late run. I have seen them on my legs. They leave a small dot of fresh blood on the skin and are smaller than a match head, round, black and shiny. A couple of nieghbours have also been bitten but not reacted so badly as myself. The last bite on Saturday evening resulted in agony all day Sunday with a swollen red patch about 6 x5 ins with a blister the size of a pea.

[shivvy]

It sounds as if it might be a bite from a 'cleg' Jabby. They are horrible things which seem to find me quite tasty too, resulting in a large swollen and hard area around the bite site which itches forever.
I think they are also known as horse flies if you want to research a bit further.
Hope this is useful.

[Artful Doris]

You say black beetle, is this because you have seen them? IE are they still on your skin? because undergrowth can be full of ticks at this time of year and when they are small they look like black shiney beetles some are grey some redish and they come off easily if they haven't been attatched long....other wise within a few hours they suck out the blood and become horrid big grey blobs like petit pois only more gruesome and pulling them off incorrectly can leave their heads attatched and leave a nasty lump (twist em off anticlockwise or cover with vaseline so they can't breath) eeeeyuk.

[Jabby]

Nope! Don't think that they are ticks. They jump off back into the grass. No bites for a while, thank goodness. My smellie anti-mozzie spray must have put them off. Bzzzzzz

[jonathanr]

I've been trying to track down what might have bitten me in NW3 four days ago -- it looked shiny and black like a beetle as well, though the size (what little I saw of it as I reacted instinctively to brush it off) was much larger than what you are describing. I *think* that what bit me was 1/2 to 2/3rds of an inch long.

Four days later I still have an irritated, itchy red patch about the size of a 5p coin on my hand with a small red dot (presumably a scab/scar) in the centre. It hasn't improved, but it also hasn't become worse. At some points of the day the centre seems more white than red, but then it gradually goes a light red again.

I wouldn't be concerned except for the duration and that I have no earthly idea what did it or where it came from (I had just been food shopping and am wondering if it was a hitchhiker from some other part of the world.).

[abc1973]

Today I was fixing my hottub in the back garden, I felt a sharp excruciating pain that caused me to shout in pain, when I lifted my arm I had a beetle(i think ,black about 1cm in length) attached to my arm tried to ping I couldnt get it off, I then had a small blood mark on my arm around match head size maybe slightly bigger.

It certainly wasnt an earywig (Spelling) unless you get one that looks like a beetle.

[Fionamg]

I have been bitten by what I think is a flea beetle. It bit me on my wrist and produced a bit of blood which I sucked. The bite became very itchy and by the next day I had a huge amount of swelling around it. By lunch time the was covered in little blisters. By the end of lunch they had developed into huge blisters and the red area was creeping up my arm - with a line going further up my arm. I went to the doctor who said I had creeping cellulitis which is very serious. She gave my very strong antibiotics and antihistamines plus hydrocortisone for the itch. My bottom lip also swelled badly and also my ear which must have been in contact my arm while I was asleep. Please don't tell me these little critters don't bit because they really do! I saw another one today and squashed it before it could have another go at me!

[Chatterbug]

Blister beetles. If you are allergic to them you will have all these kinds of reactions.

[Chatterbug]

Blister beetle. If you are allergic to this beetle, it will cause this kind of reaction.