A Versatile Beetle

Six flowers and a finger.  Landing pads for the Common Checkered Clerid Beetle, Trichodes ornatus, a sampler from the summer of 2012.  I've been writing an essay about beetles and reviewing my archive of beetle photos.  A few of the beetles I've watched this past summer seem particular about their landing pads and food sources.  For instance, I've only seen the Red Milkweed Beetle on Showy Milkweed.  I've only seen the Klamath Weed Beetle - surprise - on Klamath Weed.  But, I've seen th4 Checkered Clerid on at least a dozen different kinds of flowers, of which six are shown in the above photos.  I've also found this beetle on Showy Milkweed, Narrow-leaf Milkweed, Indian Hemp, and Spreading Dogbane.  Probably a few others.  I'm still searching through my photo archives.
The landing pads in the above photos are, from top to bottom, Red Clover, my finger, Purple Nightshade, Purple Milkweed (AKA Heartleaf Milkweed), Blue Gilia, Ox-eye Daisy, Arnica, and Ox-eye Daisy.  I've shown these beetles to hundreds of hikers on my nature walks during the summer, and it has been fun to see how their behavior changes under different conditions.  Sometimes they seem so busy feeding that they are reluctant to fly, even when you poke at them.  At other times they fly as soon as you approach closely.  My winter reading will include learning more about their sensory life.  To what extent do they rely on vision, sound, smell, or taste to choose their landing spots and their food, and how do they locate mates?  And what natural enemies might they have?  So far, the only animal I've seen catch one is me.