round black beetle - Timarcha intricata

Moved tentatively based on the following Dr Clark's suggestion:

"Currently, there are only two species of Timarcha recognized from North America, T. cerdo Stål and T. intricata Haldeman. The characters reported to distinguish the two (size, color, and punctation) are so variable and overlapping that I sometimes doubt that there is more than just a single species in North America. Notwithstanding, if I had to guess, I would say that [...] the photographed beetles are T. intricata. The specimen from Oregon has the very dark color and comparatively less coarse punctation that is supposedly characteristic of T. intricata. The specimen from Montana looks quite like T. cerdo; however, only T. intricata is reported from Montana, T. cerdo being a coastal species."

Moved from Timarcha.

… v belov, 8 November, 2010 - 9:04am

Interesting

It is a cute little beetle. One that stands out from the crowd for me.

… Lynette Elliott, 8 November, 2010 - 9:21am

Moved

Moved from Beetles.

… Lynette Elliott, 12 October, 2008 - 2:24pm

Timarcha, i guess; Chrysomelinae, anyway

what's the size of this dude?

… v belov, 11 October, 2008 - 2:47pm

I would agree.

Yes, they are fairly large for chrysomelids, and flightless if I recall, so would be just wandering around.

… Eric R. Eaton, 11 October, 2008 - 3:29pm

No size est.

sadly, since I never got to see these images, and they are now over a year old, I can't remember the size. If pressed for a guess, I would say over 10 mm and under 20?

… Lynette Elliott, 12 October, 2008 - 10:00am

that's exactly Timarcha's size range

… v belov, 12 October, 2008 - 12:55pm

good guess then,

do you think it's safe to move to that genus?

… Lynette Elliott, 12 October, 2008 - 2:11pm

yes i do :-]

… v belov, 12 October, 2008 - 2:13pm

Great,

it looks like it was worth the trouble to figure out how to access those files after all.

… Lynette Elliott, 12 October, 2008 - 2:25pm