At last we have an adult to key out! I presume we'll have more. This one must have eclosed Feb. 9, 2007 since I didn't see it in the rearing container the day before. Found and photographed Feb. 10. I preserved it in alcohol in case Eucnemid authority Jyrki Muona needs to examine it in person.
This beetle brought a special present with it. I think it is a heterostigmatan mite that hitches rides on wood-boring beetle species. At first it looked like a tiny speck of light-colored debris that needed to be removed before the photo shoot. I brushed it off with my fine-tipped watercolor paintbrush, then was amused to see this speck run after and climb back on boad the beetle. I'm sending related images to the mites section and might send the mite to Heterostigmata authority Wojciech Magowski of Poland, who IDed some for me that were
riding a bos*trichid beetle.
Later: I changed my mind. It's a mesotigmatid mite, confirmed by Dr. Magowski
Contributed by
Jim McClarin on 10 February, 2007 - 5:25pm
Last updated 22 October, 2014 - 10:43pm