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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Staphyliniformia » Staphylinoidea » Rove Beetles (Staphylinidae) » Shining Fungus Beetles (Scaphidiinae) » Scaphisomatini
Photo#578433
Tiny mound on Bald Cypress stump
Copyright © 2011 Mark Fox

Tiny mound on Bald Cypress stump
Belle Chasse, Tulane Hebert Center, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, USA
September 6, 2011
Size: 1.5mm
I don't know how common this is, but I've not ever seen it before. This mound (maybe 3cm^2, projecting 1.5cm from the surface of the tree) was on the bark of a large dead trunk of a bald cypress tree in a large patch of hardwood swamp. I noticed the little moving dots in/on the mound and collected a few of them. When I got them home, I tentatively made them out to be Ptiliidae. It appears to be some type of communal or semisocial living arrangement, which is pretty neat. Is it common in this group?

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Tiny mound on Bald Cypress stump Tiny mound on Bald Cypress stump Tiny mound on Bald Cypress stump Tiny mound on Bald Cypress stump
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Contributed by Mark Fox on 19 September, 2011 - 12:23pm

Moved
Moved from Beetles.
… v belov, 19 September, 2011 - 12:48pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Beetles.
… Mark Fox, 19 September, 2011 - 12:44pm login or register to post comments

can't tell from this photo, but no ptiliids at any rate
i have a few options in mind, but need more detail to make a call...

Moved from Featherwing[ed] Beetles.
… v belov, 19 September, 2011 - 12:28pm login or register to post comments

 
You're so fast!
I wasn't done posting images yet, so perhaps you can get a better look now.
… Mark Fox, 19 September, 2011 - 12:45pm login or register to post comments

 
thanks... sorry about that, Mark; likely a Scaphisoma
it's better to start with closeups of the organism, then add the 'scenery'
… v belov, 19 September, 2011 - 12:51pm login or register to post comments

 
You're right.
I actually posted the habitat shots, then realized I didn't have any close ups of the beetles and ran over to the microscope to take some.
… Mark Fox, 19 September, 2011 - 12:55pm login or register to post comments

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