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Photo#274554
Soft-winged Flower Beetle - Nodopus flavilabris - male

Soft-winged Flower Beetle - Nodopus flavilabris - Male
Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
May 10, 2009
Size: 3.5mm

Moved
Moved from Malachius ulkei.
Adriean, thanks for the detailed description of this Melyridae. Next time I find one, I'll have to save it for a voucher specimen.

Soft-winged flower beetle from Groton, Mass
This post may be a little confusing, but this, and the accompanying photo, is not Malachius ulkei. Males of M. ulkei do not have modified elytra. This is a species belonging to the genus Nodopus. In most species of Nodopus the male head is modified, but a few have the tips of the elytra modified into what look like flaps from an envelope. Still others lack any modification of the head or elytra. Male memebers of this genus have the first tarsal segment of the forelegs modified into a broad lobe (not visible in the photo)with spicules at the end of the lobe, and the corresponding tibiae have a cluster of short spicules at the apex. Fore more the 100 years the species with modified elytra have been identified incorrectly as species of Anthocomus. The species pictured is Nodopus flavilabris (Say). Nodopus species are rarely encountered, and are not common in museum collections. They are associated with eastern forests and are found from Canada south to Florida and Louisiana.

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