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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Cucujiformia » Cleroidea » Checkered Beetles (Cleridae) » Clerinae » Enoclerus » Enoclerus moestus
Photo#1123460
Black Ant-Like Beatle (?) with a Terrible Bite at Big Lake Arizona - Enoclerus moestus
Copyright © 2015 HopWorks

Black Ant-Like Beatle (?) with a Terrible Bite at Big Lake Arizona - Enoclerus moestus
Big Lake, Apache County, Arizona, USA
July 23, 2015
Size: 1/2 inch
They have a MONSTER BITE, and after looking at it close up, I see the very serious mandibles. They can bite repeatedly, and the bites do not leave a very visible mark but can cause numbness up to a full day afterwards. They crawl around like ants and they were EVERYWHERE! They are bigger than ants though. They are about 1/2 inch long, black, with a semi-translucent white head, black mandibles, and a weird silver capped pattern on their tail end.

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Black Ant-Like Beatle (?) with a Terrible Bite at Big Lake Arizona - Enoclerus moestus Black Ant-Like Beatle (?) with a Terrible Bite at Big Lake Arizona - Enoclerus moestus Black Ant-Like Beatle (?) with a Terrible Bite at Big Lake Arizona - Enoclerus moestus
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Contributed by HopWorks on 17 August, 2015 - 3:17pm
Last updated 17 January, 2018 - 11:28am

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… margarethe brummermann, 17 August, 2015 - 5:31pm login or register to post comments

I suspect this is Enoclerus lecontei.
Family Cleridae, they are predators and can fight back when annoyed.
… Bruce Tilden, 17 August, 2015 - 3:36pm login or register to post comments

 
Yep! That looks like our litt
Yep! That looks like our little beast. We really did not want to annoy them. But they crawled into our clothes, got against our skin, then I guess they were annoyed. Thank you for the very fast ID and reply!!!

I also found out that they are commonly referred to as the Black-Bellied Clerid. I did not find anything about their bites. Maybe the numbness was caused by just being traumatized by being bit so many times by these things. They were crawling all over the shore of Big Lake, AZ with no trees nearby. Perhaps they were drawn by the water, and the amazing amount of insect species available there.
… HopWorks, 17 August, 2015 - 3:39pm login or register to post comments

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