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Photo#1318860
Northwoods stowaway - Galerita janus

Northwoods stowaway - Galerita janus
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Cook County, Minnesota, USA
October 5, 2016
Upon returning to northeast Iowa from a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota, I unpacked my bags...and this beetle tumbled out...an apparent stowaway from canoe country.

Moved
Moved from Beetles.

Ground beetle in he genus Galerita
This is a ground beetle in the genus Galerita also known as false bombardier beetles. They like to hang out in my basement. Pretty cool and rather large.

The specimen in question is either Galerita bicolor or G. janus. I favor G. janus because the head is rounded at the base rather than tapering off into the neck as seen in G. bicolor, though I can't be certain from he photo.

Additionally, if you still have the specime, viewing it laterally you can separate the two species by the position of the setae near the scutellum. If they are straight up, it's G. bicolor. If they are flat "decucumbent " it's G. janus.

 
Sweet
Thanks so much for this information, Sean! How lucky that you have them in your basement :) I'll see if I have a lateral shot or a better shot of the head.

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