rove beetle - Heterothops fusculus

Moved

Moved from Heterothops.

… v belov, 22 July, 2020 - 2:34pm

Moved

Moved from Heterothops fusculus.

… tom murray, 12 August, 2010 - 4:03pm

Moved

Moved from Quedius.
Good work getting this dark form identified! Thanks again Adam.

… tom murray, 29 March, 2010 - 8:16am

Aha! This is actually Heterot

Aha! This is actually Heterothops, probably fus*culus if the size is correct. I will check details tomorrow, if it is this species, this is the darker morph (compare the other photos on here). Heterothops are best told apart from Quedius by the small size and minute last maxillary palpomere (visible in the third photo).
Will get back to you, thanks for the close-ups

Adam

… Adam Brunke, 28 March, 2010 - 9:56pm

Ok, so it seems the best fit

Ok, so it seems the best fit for this is the darkest form of Heterothops fusculus (less common than orange ones). The eyes look a tiny bit larger than they should be, but I have excluded all other Heterothops AND Quedius species. Note, the scutellum covered in hairs is a very uncommon feature in Quedius and always occurs in Heterothops.
It's great we have the two color extremes of this species in the guide now.
Cheers,
Adam

… Adam Brunke, 29 March, 2010 - 7:56am

it does indeed

look like anothe Heterothops from Tom here, although that one is H. minor.

… Blaine Mathison, 29 March, 2010 - 12:06pm

I just noticed how similar th

I just noticed how similar these look to each other, however Tom's new ones seem to have longer antennomeres and smaller eyes. This genus is very hard from photos and the identification relies best on the punctation of the head and microsculpture of the dorsum. All dark Heterothops on bugguide are too big for anything but fusculus. However, I'm starting to think the size range for H.minor given in the revision is too restrictive and is based on a small range of specimens. H. minor can get up to 4.0mm in the paper but the one I identified earlier is measured at 5mm! Based upon multiple characters, I think perhaps we should move all dark Heterothops to H. minor. Dark H. fusculus can occur but I don't think we have one yet.

Sorry for all the shuffling Tom,
Adam

… Adam Brunke, 29 March, 2010 - 1:06pm

Hi Tom, this is certainly Que

Hi Tom, this is certainly Quedius, but different from the other one you found earlier. The pale apex of the elytra seems odd to me, if you still have it I'm curious to see what a dorsal shot will show.

-Adam

… Adam Brunke, 28 March, 2010 - 6:36pm

another shot added

I don't know if it gives a good enough view of the head. Should I take another picture?

… tom murray, 28 March, 2010 - 6:40pm

If it's not too much trouble,

If it's not too much trouble, a dorsal shot of the head (to show eye size and punctures) would do much for this one. Looks like subgenus Micro*saurus but I don't remember any having elytra with a pale apex.. hmm..

Adam

… Adam Brunke, 28 March, 2010 - 7:00pm

Close ups added

It looks like it has a very large eye.

… tom murray, 28 March, 2010 - 8:26pm

Moved

Moved from Rove Beetles.
Quedius looks right. Pretty close to a couple others I found recently.

… tom murray, 28 March, 2010 - 3:21pm

Quedius sp.

Is my guess; but not 100% confident.

… Blaine Mathison, 28 March, 2010 - 3:15pm