It sure does seem to match - and the photos in BG come from nearby spots in CA.

with my pervert Old World background, i was completely unaware of such small-eyed microcephalous biturids :-] and association w/conifers mislead me big time

this was a beetle collected as part of an amateur project to assess arthropod diversity at a local park. I had a feeling that the pronotum wasn't imaged adequately - sorry - I'll try to add a dorsal head shot tonight if I get the time. Thanks!

i'm dying to see'em sharp & clear. i really dunno what is this, and my mind was all over the place -- from salpingids to latridiids to antribids to clerids, however embarrassing such a confession may sound :-/ yes, deeply...

The family that popped into my mind when I saw the picture was Byturidae. They have this sort of oval appearance and three-segmented antennal club.

to both of you for trying with these so-so pics. I've added images of the pronotum and attempts to image the tarsi, although it's just too hard for my set-up to focus well on the tarsi...

While I'm hesitant to offer any photo advice, sometimes for the smaller parts like legs it's best to manual fix the focus of the camera to it's closest focus, then move the subject (or the camera) until the desired part is in focus (kind of counter intuitive). If you have something like a microscope stand (after removing the microscope head) you can rest the camera through the stand, manually fix the camera's focus, then focus on the small part using the stand's focus. Lastly, if you happen to use a Canon camera, I've had satisfying results with pinned beetles like yours using the CDHK firmware hack to automatically step through multiple focus settings, then merge them using one of several "image stacking" software programs.

In any case, thanks for sharing this interesting beetle.

thanks, Tim. I tried your technique and added my best image, but it's still not great. Part of the problem, I think, is with the size of this beetle. I have a Canon A630 and it's having a hard time with this size range without microscope magnification. If I take the photo thru my scope, the plane of focus is so narrow that it's hard to get everything in focus at once. The image-stacking software has worked for me with large bugs and a stable camera base, but not with my shaky hands taking photos thru the ocular of my scope (my current setup)... Thanks for trying!