thought I'd start the new year with a post of species #200 in my backyard beetle count (see my bio for the list). This one I believe is an Elmidae, Macronychus glabratus (Say). From Downie and Arnett, it is the only species from this genus in NAmer, and can be "separated from the others with the short antennae with 7 antennomeres. In addition, legs are remarkably long." The head is also deeply contracted into the prothorax.(corrections welcome :) Came to UV light.

While it's still difficult to count the antennomeres from this photo, it's also the first of my attempts to achieve some better images of sub-5mm beetles from my current point-n-shoot. This set-up includes a reversed 28mm f2.8 old SLR lens and a 16 shot montage of focus-bracketed images. Hopefully, a few more tweaks will improve results some more.

So Happy New Year to everyone, and another new species for BugGuide :)