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Photo#37774
Pasimachus punctulatus - male

Pasimachus punctulatus - Male
Turkey Farm Road, Orange County, North Carolina, USA
October 28, 2005
Size: 34 mm
Found in leaf litter in a deciduous forest habitat. Captured and posed--having lost an antenna in the process. This appears to be Pasimachus depressus, according to the key in Ciegler (1).

This is probably a male. Ciegler, p. 37 (1) says that elytron of male is shiny, of female, dull. Also, base of mandible of male has a wide oblique depression dorsally.

Update 1/18/16. Appears to be a P. punctulatus--see comments. Image updated as well. Seems to show the tibial brush on the rear legs noted for P. punctulatus.

Images of this individual: tag all
Pasimachus punctulatus - male Pasimachus punctulatus - male Pasimachus punctulatus - male Pasimachus punctulatus - male Pasimachus punctulatus - male

Moved
Moved from Pasimachus depressus. Thanks for your correction, Frank--sorry I did not get to it earlier. Looking at Ciegler's key and descriptions (1), it does seem that P. punctulatus is a better fit to these photos, for instance, the strongly striate mandibles. Also, I did have a detail shot of the hind tibia:

I guess this matches P. punctulatus. Let me know if this all looks correct to you.

P.punctulatus?
I'm thinking this might be P.punctulatus? I think the ridge between the eyes is dilated. Also I think that brush of golden hair at the inside apex of the metatibia is distinctive for a male of that species. I will try to get Peter Messer or other expert to take a look.

 
P.punctulatus?
I heard back from Peter. Basically he says image too distant to comment on the tibial brush. But I think it's there so I think has to be a male P.puntulatus. Just my two cents. BTW nice pictures from you as always! :)

 
tibial brush
And again, see this detail shot:


Not sure if that is "brushy" enough, but I am way out of my league here!

And here is another Pasimachus I thought was P. depressus, but it is very similar to this P. punculatus. Opinions?

Edit. I think the above is P. punctulatus as well. Looking more carefully at Ciegler and images here, I feel fairly confident. Also, I updated the images for this specimen with larger and better exposure-corrected ones. I think the dorsal view shows the tibial brush clearly now. Thanks for your help. Any further corrections much appreciated!

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