Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
BugGuide Gathering
Smoky Mountains
University of Tennessee Biological Field Station
August 8-10, 2008
 
Photos from the gathering
 
Photos from the 2007 gathering in Minnesota

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#176794
Ground Beetle - Blethisa

Ground Beetle - Blethisa
Lacey (near Olympia), Thurston County, Washington, USA
April 12, 2008
Found this guy under my car on the driveway when I was heading into the house.

Images of this individual: tag all
Ground Beetle - Blethisa Ground Beetle - Blethisa

Moved

Carabidae
reminds me of Blethisa

 
nice call
The other pic of this beetle looks identical to the Blethisa quadricollis from the Smithsonian that's in the Guide.

 
Three species of Blethisa are possible in the WA area:
B. quadricollis, B. oregonensis, B. multipunctata aurata according to the 1993 catalogue by Bousquet & Larochelle. According to Lindroth (1961-1969), B. quadricollis is the largest at > 15 mm while others are < 13.5 mm. Also B. quadricollis has pronotum with relatively rounded hind angles, but images suggest sharper hind angles that would be consistent with the other two species. Measuring body size would have been most helpful for ruling in or out B. quadricollis. This certainly could be B. quadricollis based on limited detail of images, but I feel safer with just "Blethisa" until I'm convinced otherwise. See the difficult image separations here.

 
Thanks, Peter.
I'll check through the other images I have to see if they show the back margin of the pronotum better, but I *think* I picked the best images I got of this specimen. I may also so if I can do a little reconstructive measuring...but that will only help us if this was a full grown B. quadricollis and is 15 mm or larger, of course. Anything 13.5 mm or less still means it could be any of the three.

 
Adult beetles do not "grow" in size.
They stay almost same size after they emerge from pupae. Adult beetles do not shed exoskeletons to grow larger nor do they simply "grow" without shedding.

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.