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Photo#371453
Vinegar Sprayer - Anisodactylus binotatus

Vinegar Sprayer - Anisodactylus binotatus
Enumclaw, Forested Unincorporated King County, Washington, USA
January 29, 2010
Size: 11mm
I was doing some rock flipping and saw a small hole dug into the dirt under one of them; this beetle was in the hole, head first. Later, when taking the photos and examining it, I tried to get it to hold still by gently grasping it in tweezers... bad idea! It sprayed me. Smelled exactly like extremely potent vinegar. My eyes and nose began to burn and I had to back away. I could see the liquid on the tweezers, too. It was a direct hit! It definitely sunk my battleship, lol. Is this defensive mechanism characteristic of any single genus or species? I suppose most beetles have defenses, but are they all vinegar-like? I matched this beetle to one of the photos of Harpalus in one of my field guides, hence the tentative ID (edit: this ID turned out to be wrong).

I have lots of other images of this one, so if you'd like to see something please let me know. I'd be happy to add other views.

Images of this individual: tag all
Vinegar Sprayer - Anisodactylus binotatus Vinegar Sprayer - Anisodactylus binotatus Vinegar Sprayer - Anisodactylus binotatus Vinegar Sprayer - Anisodactylus binotatus

Anisodactylus binotatus
is verified by my microscopic examination of this photo-vouchered specimen. It easily passed through the taxonomic key by Lindroth (1968). Mandy, thank you for donating this species new to my reference collection of North American Carabidae.

 
Thank you, Peter!
And I was happy to donate the specimen! I'm glad it made it to you in good condition. :)

 
Lesson here:
It is becoming increasingly apparent to me that a high percentage of uniformly blackish ground beetles (tribes Harpalini, Pterostichini, Zabrini, etc) cannot be reliably identified to species based on just their BugGuide photographs of which most have inherent resolution issues. We were lucky in this case to have originally guessed "Anisodactylus binotatus" correctly. At least in my experience, the corresponding photo-vouchered carabid specimen can easily be identified under microscope and tested against published taxonomic keys. In the past couple of days new photographs of pterostichine-harpalines (tougher than yours Mandy) have been submitted. I really don't feel motivated in such ambiguous cases to initiate the dialogue, but usually wait until someone wanders way off track. I think most photo submitters now know about my willingness to examine their specimens so I don't usually address that in my comments - unless I deem it important for one reason or another. Thank you again Mandy for your interest and support on ground beetles in your area.

Moved

thanks guys -- good teamwork!
Moved from Ground Beetles.

 
Wonderful! Thank you Tim and =v=!
I am happy to add a new species to the guide. (*big grin*) Should I add any close-ups of the body anatomy that you mentioned, Tim? Or will these two photos be sufficient to start the new species page?

Definitely Anisodactylus
This is A. consobrinus, a far western species new to the guide.
Note swollen apical protibial spurs, constricted pronotum with obtuse denticulate hind angles, glabrous (non-pubescent) prosternum, and overall nonmetallic black color. Not listed for Canada at present, but Lindroth reported this species from WA and CA.

 
Consider Anisodactylus binotatus,
a species introduced to the Pacific Northwest. A second choice might be western A. similis. While many details fit A. consobrinus the surface luster is shown too shiny (should be dull) and the first antennomere appears contrastingly pale (should be dark). Limited image resolution fails to answer Lindroth couplet 20 on the absence or presence of dorsal pubescence. So one has to look at both branches of the taxonomic key. Image shows elytral intervals too convex and the dorsal forebody is not sufficiently punctate to be A. similis in my opinion. These questions of course could be resolved by specimen examination under scope. In mean time look at these links for comparisons:

A. consobrinus

A. brevicollis, a synonym of A. consobrinus

A. binotatus appears here: (1), (2), and (3). However, (3) appears different to me and so I question the species designation there.

 
[3] is a 2.5 mm trechine :)
*

 
Dorsal pubescence
is barely visible along the sides of the elytra (outer intervals) in the enlarged image after taking a second look. Combined with the pale color of the basal antennal segments and characters of the pronotum, I now agree this is A. binotatus.

 
Thank you, Peter, for your research!
I'm afraid that I can't be of any help as far as identifying beetles (spiders are my forte), so I place my trust in you and the other experts here.

I have lots of other photos of this beetle (I took far too many, as usual), and would be happy to email you the full-size files if they would be helpful. I use a point-n-shoot camera, so photographic results aren't always the best. As far as the surface luster, it's difficult for me to tell shiny from dull in a carabid sense... but I wonder if my flash produced an extra shiny pronotum. Looking at it now, in real-life without a flash, the pronotum is less shiny and the elytra even less shiny than that... but I wouldn't say that either is dull or matte, though. I am also on a quest to find some examples of the dorsal pubescence for you in my image files. I found one so far (371715), but may find a better one given in a few minutes.

Like I mentioned, though, I really don't know much of anything about beetle identification. Thank you for checking out my specimen! I do still have the little beetle if you would like to have it (I saw in your bio that you accept specimens for ID). I tried to keep it alive until I could get a definite ID, but my beetle keeping experience is little to none and the little one died not to long ago. I wondered if it was the fish food I gave it? It didn't last long after I fed it some. But them again, I've had 3 fish die in the last two weeks, too! A case of spoiled fish flakes? A case for Angela Lansbury, perhaps? Lol.

Let me know if you want me to begin the mailing process. It's been dead for over a week, though, fyi. It isn't pinned or anything, so it's in pretty pristine condition. And I also resubmitted these two Bug Guide images in their original size, so being an editor, you should be able to see them. :) Thank you!

 
Two points:
(1) Yes Mandy, I accept your kind offer to donate this (photo-vouchered) specimen along with any other carabids that might be in your area. "Anisodactylus binotatus" would be a new species addition to my reference collection of North American Carabidae. Instructions for mailing appear in my profile. Thanks so much for your scientific contribution to BugGuide.

(2) We need to add "Anisodactylus binotatus" to the "List of non-native species ..." page under discussion heading Articles.

 
I am actually adding the fini
I am actually adding the finishing touches to this beetle package at the moment, addressed to you, of course. :)

It will be just the one beetle in the box this time around. Rehydrated and all.

So please expect a box from Miss Mandy in...well, however many days the USPS chooses. :)

 
...
(double post was deleted)

Harpalus is possible, but so is, imho, Anisodactylus
yes, carabids are notorious stinkers and also have the nasty habit to barf all over the place they don't like -- like a human hand or a euthanatory jar...
anyway, nice series -- maybe Peter Messer or Tim Loh will suggest an add'l angle/closeup to facilitate identification

 
Спасибо =v=
Aha! I've been wondering which end that wretched stench comes from. I've collected a few beetles (very few) and all of them released yucky brown stuff all over the vial and themselves. I thought they were poopin' all over the place to scare me away. But now I know it came from the other end! As for the vinegar, I couldn't believe how potent it was.

Pretty much anything with 6 legs is somewhat alien to me, so it would be no surprise if Harpalus is wrong. I checked out Anisodactylus and saw some more very promising looking options.

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