A Podabrus soldier beetle hides away in the leafy folds of an understory plant in an eastern deciduous forest. Soldier beetles (family Cantharidae) are predators of other arthropods.
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 50D
ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f13, flash diffused through tracing paper
Myrmecos Blog 
That’s what they’re called! Thank you! I’ve got like a hundred of them out in the garden.
Are they good for the garden? I can’t find more info – but have a huge amount of them flying around my pines and ornamental plum trees.
A predator soldier. That’s why he wears this black and golden armor…Tks!!!