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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Elateriformia » Elateroidea » Soldier Beetles (Cantharidae) » Cantharinae » Podabrini » Podabrus » Podabrus rugosulus
Photo#281070
Mystery beetle - Podabrus rugosulus
Copyright © 2009 Dorothy E. Pugh

Mystery beetle - Podabrus rugosulus
Durham, Durham County, North Carolina, USA
May 18, 2009
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Contributed by Dorothy E. Pugh on 28 May, 2009 - 9:09pm
Last updated 29 May, 2009 - 8:43am

Cantharid soldier beetle
My guess it is a Podabrus rugosulus, see ones listed is BugGuide.
… Gary Griswold, 28 May, 2009 - 10:27pm login or register to post comments

 
P. rugosulus indeed
*
… v belov, 28 May, 2009 - 11:25pm login or register to post comments

 
Thank you
I had a hard time seeing the head/thorax similarities with other Elateroid beetles. To add to the confusion, ITIS doesn't have an entry for Podabrus. There's a mysterious family called Podabrocephalidae that's been mired in controversy since 1930, and I wonder if that's relevant. It's not even in Elateroidea. See http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=678303. The Tree of Life Web is similarly vague although it places Podabrocephalidae in Elateroidea; see http://tolweb.org/Elateroidea/9084.
… Dorothy E. Pugh, 29 May, 2009 - 8:41am login or register to post comments

 
Podabrus are perfectly typical cantharids...
...very common in this country and throughout the temperate & boreal zone of the northern hemisphere, and typical members of the Elateroidea, too. ITIS has huge gaps in many taxa, but the Podabrus page is there, listing the 100+ Podabrus spp. of our fauna (~2/3 are western, though).
that small, obscure, and very exotic family you've mentioned has nothing to do with Podabrus
… v belov, 16 June, 2012 - 7:45am login or register to post comments

 
I understand now.
I now know the ITIS is far behind in some areas. Thank you all for providing this ID.
… Dorothy E. Pugh, 16 June, 2012 - 7:57am login or register to post comments

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