Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Photo#259865
Eastern Ash Bark Beetle - Hylesinus aculeatus

Eastern Ash Bark Beetle - Hylesinus aculeatus
Elk Rock State Park, Marion County, Iowa, USA
March 21, 2009
Size: ~2 mm
This tiny beetle landed on me as I was walking along a sandy beach at Red Rock Reservoir this afternoon. This photo is of it on my palm. Sorry for the grainy image, this is at the extreme edge of my pocket camera's close-up function.

Hylesinus aculeatus, a bark beetle

 
Must be more common
... than just in New Hampshire and Iowa, but its tiny size may well be a factor in few photos presently appearing in BugGuide. Interesting that your cited photo was so similar in nature (a handheld view and even the same apology for low quality). The BugGuide info for the family mentions that species sometimes "play dead" when disturbed; this is what happened when I swatted it away from my face and it fell "dead" into my hand, only to revive as I tried to photograph its "lifeless" body. Thanks for the ID!