Root-eating Beetle - Monotoma bicolor

Moved tentatively; good call, Tom. will show it to Yves

… v belov, 9 April, 2010 - 2:42pm

Thanks =v=

I don't know if you've seen this key to Atomaria also by Christopher Majka.

… tom murray, 9 April, 2010 - 2:57pm

i think i've seen all of his stuff; we're in touch with Kristof

he's kinda... [very kinda] countryman of mine :) the atomariine paper is in the Guide at(1)
(and this M. bicolor was my 2001st guide page -- but i'll have a very hard time matching your track record)

… v belov, 9 April, 2010 - 3:17pm

Not bad, 2001guide pages!

That's a good chunk of the 17,500+ species pages in the guide. I may find a lot of bugs, but you're the one who knows what they are.

… tom murray, 9 April, 2010 - 3:45pm

i think at least half of my pages are not species pages...

...but rather family-group taxa ([sub]tribes thru subfams), that used to be much badmouthed and vilified on the Forum :)
perhaps a hundred of so are 'No Taxon' pages; so the statistics actually needs adjustment -- which is also the case with any statistics: it's what behind it that matters

… v belov, 9 April, 2010 - 3:56pm

Monotoma producta

? Please wait for a second; I dont have as much experience with this family.

… Blaine Mathison, 9 April, 2010 - 10:15am

M. bicolor?

I was looking at this PDF from Christopher Majka. And M. bicolor looks close.
In the description, it says they are in rotting vegetable matter, and my compost pile is 50' from where I snagged this beetle.

… tom murray, 9 April, 2010 - 10:32am

Nice PDF!

Yeah, bicolor looks more like it based on those images. Wish there was a key. :-)

… Blaine Mathison, 9 April, 2010 - 10:47am

Partial key

There is a partial key that covers 12 species found in Canada. Give me a few minutes and I'll dig up where I found it. See the pdf version here. I'll add link to genus page.

… Brad Barnd, 9 April, 2010 - 1:45pm