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Photo#152063
S. Appalachian beetle - Necrophilus pettiti

S. Appalachian beetle - Necrophilus pettiti
Otto, Southern Appalachia pitfall trap, Macon County, North Carolina, USA
October 12, 2007
This beetle was in a pitfall trap I set out for a week in early October in a forested watershed at about a 1000 m elevation.

Images of this individual: tag all
S. Appalachian beetle - Necrophilus pettiti S. Appalachian beetle - Necrophilus pettiti

Thank you all for your quick
Thank you all for your quick replies! I'll keep an eye out for this guy.

Very nice find, Fabiana.
I never even knew there was an eastern member of this beetle family.

habitus
screams Nitidulidae and I know I've seen this before, but ..

 
hhmmmmmmmmm reminds me more o
hhmmmmmmmmm reminds me more of the primitive carrion beetles Agyrtidae, possibly in the genus Necrophilus.

 
Necrophilus pettiti Horn
you're right - the only eastern sp. is pettiti, It's been recorded from the Smokies already - see newsletter (page 5). another note pg 190 - the type (somewhat damaged).

new one for the guide

 
did you collect any?
Id like to get a specimen or two of this bug if you happened to collect any.

 
There was only one
I only found one specimen in my pitfall, and I'm afraid he's not in the best of shape right now--it was really a test run for the pitfall traps. I did put out the traps again in the same places and will be collecting them this Saturday. If I find another I'll let you know!

 
Do you know - is it as
rare as noted? It was odd enough that I remember seeing [not the name evidently] several in the ATBI collection. Only listed from Washington, Indiana and Ontario here - so evidently wide ranging.

From above reference "Necrophilus pettiti Horn, associated with decaying organic matter was collected in pitfall traps. Necrophilus pettiti is the only species in the genus Necrophilus found in eastern North America. The genus belongs to the family Agyrtidae, whose members are adapted to cool climates in mountainous regions, often near cool streams or in high elevation snowfields."

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