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Photo#252688
Cercyon mendax

Cercyon mendax
Medford, (~25 miles east of Philadelphia, PA) Burlington County, New Jersey, USA
June 7, 2008
Size: 2.4mm
I believe this is Cercyon mendax. It appears to show the "metasterum with femoral lines" much better than my previous post of this species. Corrections welcome :)

came to UV light

Images of this individual: tag all
Cercyon mendax Cercyon mendax Cercyon mendax

Question
What key did you use? The ones I have have C. mendax without femoral lines on the metasternum.

 
error?
Hi Brad, I assume I used D&A, which as you question, states mendax and others do NOT have femoral lines. But surely this is yet another D&A error (or, I'm just not understanding femoral lines), as both C. praetextatus and C. quisquilius from me seem to clearly have femoral lines, and I'm more certain of those IDs.

See and .

If I assume D&A's key is correct, and then try keying accordingly, there seem to be no obvious solutions for this beetle, and many fewer choices to even consider.

But I'm certainly open to corrections (and you definitely had me worried there for a bit).

Thanks for questioning,

 
Not an error
D&A key is correct.

These femoral lines were a tricky bit to wrap my head around. In the two photos you linked, there is a raised area on the metasternum, each with a distinct hind ridge against which the hind femur might rest. If femoral lines were present, you would see an additional fine line extending from this ridge towards the front end of the metasternum.

The only species in the guide currently (that I know of) that has these lines is C. haemorrhoidalis. You can sort of see these lines in and

 
Also
I do think your specimen looks like C. mendax, though the size seems a bit large.

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