thanks for the info. I found the antennae very odd myself, although I wasn't able to get a good shot of them.

Not Varroa mites. Varroa mites are only found on honey bees as far as I know. Those are its shortened elytra.

Can reference to varroa mites be modified or edited out of the caption on these two photo?

I've edited the title to make it a question. Less confusing I hope.

Thanks, Jim.

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Thanks.

btw, is that all the bigger it's elytra get? is this an adult? most I've seen on beetles cover a good part of the wings.

There are those whose elytra are practically vestigial, such as this beetle whose wings are always exposed. Members of several families can be found with vestigial or near vestigial elytra.

Other beetles have short elytra, masterfully folding their full-sized wings out of sight. Rov*e beetles in particular are amazing to watch as the shoot their wings out from beneath their ridiculously sawed-off elytra and fly. It's equally amazing to see them fold their wings away again, making adept use of their up-flexed abdomen to compress their wings beneath their elytra.

For all other adult beetles the elytral wingcovers are only undersized for a few minutes after they emerge from their pupal skin, although it may take them days or even weeks before they are ready to fly.

btw, any beetle that has legs and wings or elytra (some are flightless and have elytra but no wings) and multi-segmented antennae is an adult. There are some in which the female remains larval in appearance while the male looks like a "real" beetle. Closer inspection of these females reveals adult compound eyes and antennae. When a beetle emerges from pupal state it is fully grown. An adult never molts to allow size gain.

Thanks for all the info, Jim! I really appreciate you taking the time to explain that for me.

:-)