Sap Beetle on Carrion - Omosita discoidea

Moved

Moved from Omosita.

… tom murray, 15 December, 2008 - 6:49pm

vote for O. discoidea

… v belov, 13 December, 2008 - 10:10am

forget about what is written in keys sometimes . . .

. . . and believe me: It is Omosita discoidea, colour pattern is distinctive for this species!

regards, Boris

… Boris Büche, 21 December, 2006 - 11:15am

That makes it two to one for O. discoidea,

and the one, Andrew Cline, didn't say it *wasn't* discoidea.

… Jim McClarin, 21 December, 2006 - 5:38pm

Omosita discoidea

is suggested for this image by Nitidulid specialist Dr. Sci. Alexander G. Kirejtshuk, Laboratory of Insect Systematics, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences after his perusal of the family on bugguide. "Although," he says, "O. inversa can be very similar."

… Jim McClarin, 19 November, 2005 - 7:06pm

Omosita

Omosita colon and O. discoidea are the only Nearctic species, according to Nearctica.com. While that might then suggest this is O. discoidea, on the other hand if our other expert Dr. Cline left it as Omosita sp. even though there are only two Nearctic species, I would hestitate to pin a specific name on it without knowing more.

--Stephen

Stephen Cresswell
Buckhannon, WV
www.stephencresswell.com

… Stephen_WV, 20 November, 2005 - 3:38am

Leaning towards O. colon

Working closely with Downie & Arnett, I am leaning towards an ID of O. colon for this beetle.

Overall it seems to match their text description of O. colon better than it matches their write-up of O. discoidea.

Also, in one test that can be quantified, it has the pronotum about twice as wide as long, a trait of O. colon. According to Downie & Arnett, the width to length ratio of O. discoidea is more like 1.6 to 1, and that doesn't match the beetle in my photo.

On the other hand, the difference in markings with the photos already identified as O. colon on BugGuide, and the somewhat different pronotum width to length ratio in those photos, does suggest we have more than one species represented here.

--Stephen

Stephen Cresswell
Buckhannon, WV
www.stephencresswell.com

… Stephen_WV, 14 March, 2006 - 4:35pm

Cline should see this

unless he unsubscribed as he went. I will did forward him Kirejtshuk's message about it however.

… Jim McClarin, 20 November, 2005 - 8:12am

Omosita sp.

… acline, 17 November, 2005 - 6:46pm

Thanks!

Andrew, many thanks for your IDs of this and other Nitidulidae on BugGuide. We really appreciate it!

--Stephen

Stephen Cresswell
Buckhannon, WV
www.stephencresswell.com

… Stephen_WV, 18 November, 2005 - 4:26am