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BugGuide Gathering
Smoky Mountains
University of Tennessee Biological Field Station
August 8-10, 2008
Details...
 
Photos from the last gathering (Minnesota 2007)

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Photo#178132
Beetle plus hitchhikers? - Hololepta aequalis

Beetle plus hitchhikers? - Hololepta aequalis
Geneva, Ontario Counth County, New York, USA
April 19, 2008
Size: a cm or less
I fished the beetle out of a pool: only in reviewing the pix did I realize that there was more than one arthropod involved. Are the tiny red things mites?

Histeridae
Genus Hololepta. Usually you will find them under bark.

 
H. aequalis...
to be exacting. I downloaded the image and played around with it in Photoshop to get a better look at the elytral striae. Definitely H. aequalis. Good find.

Interesting that all the individuals of this species posted to this point have mites on them.

I'll leave out in ID request for a while to see if anyone can ID the mites.

Family
Histeridae I believe for the beetle

Mites...
They are just hitchhikers. I don't think they are parasitic. I've seen them on damselflies, dragonflies and different species of beetle.

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