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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles (Polyphaga) » Scarab, Stag and Bess Beetles (Scarabaeoidea) » Stag Beetles (Lucanidae) » Aesalinae » Nicagus » Nicagus obscurus
Photo#1222914
Beetle - Nicagus obscurus - male
Copyright © 2016 Aaron Hunt

Beetle - Nicagus obscurus - Male
Block Island, Washington County, Rhode Island, USA
May 12, 2016
Along West Beach in the intertidal zone around low tide (out of reach of the waves) near Middle Pond.

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Beetle - Nicagus obscurus - male Beetle - Nicagus obscurus - male Beetle - Nicagus obscurus - male Beetle - Nicagus obscurus - male
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Contributed by Aaron Hunt on 13 May, 2016 - 2:11am
Last updated 4 June, 2016 - 2:21am

Moved
Moved from Beetles.
… Brad Barnd, 4 June, 2016 - 12:56am login or register to post comments

Nicagus obscurus (LeConte), male
This is Nicagus obscurus (LeConte). This is a great record, probably new for the state (have any Lucanidae even been reported from Block Island?). Katovich & Kriska (2002) listed an updated distribution, and the closest state records to RI are NY, NH, & NJ.

Nicagus obscurus is found in sandy areas along streams, rivers, and lakes. I don't see any reference to it being found on oceanic beaches, other than, possibly, a comment by Blatchley (1): "In the east it is said to frequent the vicinity of dead mussels"

It is a male specimen, and its genitalia are the same as my Indiana specimens.
… Brad Barnd, 4 June, 2016 - 12:56am login or register to post comments

 
Thanks!
Very exciting. It is indeed the first in the whole family for Block Island. I haven't been able to find the full list in Sikes (2004) but I do know that five species in the family had been recorded from the state by then, including Platycerus depressus (a new record from the paper), and presumably, given their abundance, Lucanus capreolus and Platycerus virescens. I have no idea what the other two might be but a new state record sounds likely to me.
… Aaron Hunt, 4 June, 2016 - 1:15am login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… Aaron Hunt, 13 May, 2016 - 5:21pm login or register to post comments

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