Don Chandler told me in private correspondence that he thought he recalled his advisor at Ohio State, Chuck Triplehorn, "was interested in Eusattus muricatus because they will 'drum' by tapping the tips of their abdomens to the ground, for what reason I can't recall. If you put them in a tin plate you can hear it quite clearly."

I planned to test these beetles until it was determined they were a different species. However, in a photo session today, my subject clearly drummed on three occasions, lasting a little less than a second and consisting of an estimated 10 to 20 beats each time. The beetle seemed to do this out of annoyance or frustration at failing to crawl under a stainless steel ruler in my light arena.

The tip of the abdomen appeared to be the percussion instrument, and the drumming was rather amplified by the hollow beneath the piece of colored foam-core I used for a background.

My conjecture here is that, at least two Eusattus species are drummers and that possibly the entire genus exhibits this behavior. An interesting finding would be whether there are quantitative differences between the species' drumming (beats per second, total beats per drumming, etc.) Also, would they drum if attacked by ants, and with what effect? Do both sexes drum? How do nearby members of the same species react when one beetle drums?

Don Chandler, in private correspondence, says collection specimens of this species from the nearby White Sands National Monument look most like these images, although E. muricatus bears close resemblance.

Yep, its STILL a tenebrionid:-) That is one diverse family.