Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Register
·
Log In
Home
Guide
ID Request
Recent
Frass
Forums
Donate
Help
Clickable Guide
Calendar
Upcoming Events
Registration
is open for the
2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho
July 24-27
Moth submissions
from
National Moth Week 2023
Photos of
insects
and
people
from the
2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico
, July 20-24
Photos of
insects
and
people
from the
Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana
, April 28-May 2
Photos of
insects
and
people
from the
2019 gathering in Louisiana
, July 25-27
Photos of
insects
and
people
from the
2018 gathering in Virginia
, July 27-29
Previous events
Taxonomy
Browse
Info
Images
Links
Books
Data
Home
» Guide »
Arthropods (Arthropoda)
»
Hexapods (Hexapoda)
»
Insects (Insecta)
»
Beetles (Coleoptera)
»
Polyphaga
»
Series Staphyliniformia
»
Staphylinoidea
»
Rove Beetles (Staphylinidae)
»
Large Rove Beetles (Staphylininae)
»
Staphylinini
»
Philonthina
»
Philonthus
»
Philonthus caeruleipennis
Photo#24105
Copyright © 2005
Jim McClarin
Philonthus cyanipennis -
Philonthus caeruleipennis
Nashua, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, USA
July 12, 2005
Size: 15 - 16 mm
Images of this individual:
tag all
tag
·
login
or
register
to post comments
Contributed by
Jim McClarin
on 13 July, 2005 - 8:51pm
Last updated 12 July, 2007 - 7:48am
Moved
Moved from
Philonthus cyanipennis
.
…
tom murray
, 12 July, 2007 - 7:48am
login
or
register
to post comments
Hi Tom,
I forget if I commented to say thank you for getting the skinny on these from Don and moving them for me. So thanks (twice maybe)!
…
Jim McClarin
, 14 July, 2007 - 10:14am
login
or
register
to post comments
Philonthus, perhaps, species possibilities
Dillon, p. 195 (description), plate XX #19, illustrates
Philonthus cyanipennis
, says: "Elongate, robust; black, shining; elytra metallic blue or green, antennae and tarsi piceous. Head quadrate, as wide as or wider than pronotum..."
(
1
)
The description seems to match, to my untrained eye, especially the color of the elytra and other parts. I don't see anything inconsistent in the technical description. Length given as 12-15 mm.
Hmm, here's
an image
from Eurasia. Seems rather chunkier than your beetle. Other
Philonthus
shown on that page look closer in shape to yours. Well, it's a hypothesis.
Aha! Another similar-looking beetle:
Philonthus caeruleipennis
, shown at
Insects of Quebec
. Length is given as 8 mm, a bit small for yours. (It looks smaller than 16 mm compared to the penny in your photo--a penny is about 19 mm diamter, and the beetle looks about half or two-thirds of the diamter--hard to tell exactly.)
Another image of
Philonthus caeruleipennis
here
.
Well, I do like genus
Philonthus
.
Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina
…
Cotinis
, 13 July, 2005 - 9:31pm
login
or
register
to post comments
I'll re-measure
Hi Patrick. I inadvertantly destroyed all shots of this beetle next to millimeter rule. I try to keep at least one, even if image is out of focus, for purposes of yielding a precise measurement. However, I still have the beetle and 3 - 4 more like it that I pulled out of the carrion trap last night.
I had hastily judged the beetle to be about three quarters the diameter of the penny because it was longer than another beetle that I hastily figured at half the diameter. You know what they say, "Haste makes waste," and now I have to re-do it!!
Anyway, thanks for steering me on this one. I'll do some Web image comparisons myself once I've got a good measurement.
…
Jim McClarin
, 14 July, 2005 - 5:48am
login
or
register
to post comments
Comment viewing options
Flat list - collapsed
Flat list - expanded
Threaded list - collapsed
Threaded list - expanded
Date - newest first
Date - oldest first
10 comments per page
30 comments per page
50 comments per page
70 comments per page
90 comments per page
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.