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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Adephaga » Ground Beetles (Carabidae) » Harpalinae » Pterostichitae » Woodland Ground Beetles (Pterostichini) » Pterostichus » Subgenus Morphnosoma (Pterostichus Subgenus Morphnosoma) » Pterostichus melanarius
Photo#1707095
dying beetle with big jaws - Pterostichus melanarius
Copyright © 2019 Robin McLeod

dying beetle with big jaws - Pterostichus melanarius
Guelph, Wellington, Ontario, Canada
August 4, 2019
Size: 19-21 mm
On mixed woods trail, lying on back kicking its legs. When placed upright, repeatedly fell onto back again.

Images of this individual: tag all
dying beetle with big jaws - Pterostichus melanarius dying beetle with big jaws - Pterostichus melanarius dying beetle with big jaws - underside
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Contributed by Robin McLeod on 5 August, 2019 - 10:52pm
Last updated 17 May, 2020 - 2:51pm

Moved
Moved from Woodland Ground Beetles.
… Curt Harden, 17 May, 2020 - 2:51pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Ground Beetles.
… Robin McLeod, 12 August, 2019 - 8:26am login or register to post comments

Tribe Pterostichini:
Two strong clues: Body size is rather huge (really true?) and the pronotum shows distinct sharp (dentate) hind angles. I would start by considering genera like Pterostichus (e.g. P. melanarius but it is smaller than 20 mm) and Lophoglossus. The dirty surface hides details; makes my image recognition difficult.
… Peter W. Messer, 11 August, 2019 - 8:46am login or register to post comments

 
Thanks, Peter.
Its large size is what surprised me, as most ground beetles I see are about half that size. Measured against the lines on my palm, it's 20 mm +/- 1 mm.
… Robin McLeod, 12 August, 2019 - 8:25am login or register to post comments

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