I've previously had trouble IDing this guy (yes, the date is correct - I had to put parts of life on hold for awhile) and didn't have any of Arnett's books until 2 years ago. But even with Downie & Arnett I couldn't seem to even get to a subfamily (Scarbs were still one big happy family). This beetle is even part of the reason I stumbled upon BugGuide about 9 months ago, looking for some ID help from the Web. So now that the collecting season is mostly over I went back to shoot and post this beetle, and I thought I'd try the keys quickly again one more time. This time for some reason I counted the antenna segments a little more exactly and come up with 10. I previously assumed I missed one in the base of the club. But following 10 segments, the key leads to Ochodaeinae (now Ochodaeidae), and the single species listed from the northeast - Ochodaeus musculus. I couldn't find any web photos, but as best I can tell, the description in Downie & Arnett seems to match.

comformations or corrections welcome!