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Photo#432262
Elateroidea? - Selonodon speratus

Elateroidea? - Selonodon speratus
Elkland, Missouri, Dallas County, Missouri, USA
July 24, 2010
Size: 16 mm
I've tried to key using 5-5-5 tarsal segments and hind coxae dividing the 1st abdominal segment, which doesn't lead me to anything reasonably close. These beetles have been frequent in a light trap at my pond. They have a click-beetle look, but the head is very different.

Images of this individual: tag all
Elateroidea? - Selonodon speratus Elateroidea? - Selonodon speratus Elateroidea? - Selonodon speratus Elateroidea? - Selonodon speratus

Moved
Moved from Selonodon. (1)

Moved--got it a litter further :)
Moved from Cebrioninae.

 
appreciated

nice, nice find, Jerry -- we'll get it further, promise
Moved from ID Request.

 
Cebrioninae
So it is in Elateridae? I was having a devil of a time with the keys, for such a large beetle. Thanks!

 
when it comes to keying anything out to family...
...i wouldn't even try. for a world.
the last time i used a beetle family key was in mid-1970s, and i don't even want to think about it

 
Keys
Wow - thanks much for the i.d.! I've been trying to identify all my summer night-lighting beetle finds, but those LRB's (little round beetles) have been especially difficult. I must need some new books. My Arnett, Jacques, etc. all date back to the 60's for me from a summer at U.C. Riverside in California.

 
age doesn't matter
on great many occasions the old keys (esp. late 1800s-early 1900s) are more helpful and user-friendly as they are based on simpler formal characters that may not match the current convoluted definitions of higher beetle taxa but would bring you thru just fine, and adjustments can be made to reflect the current taxonomy. LRBs are exactly the area where posting pix on BG [even those of substandard quality] would help you most -- so bring it on, Jerry! we'll give you a push in the right direction and you'll do just fine ever after: once you know family, the rest is way piece-of-cakier

 
LRB's
Thanks again. I'll be polishing my photography of those little round beetles. Those that give me the greatest difficulty are in the 2-3mm range; and their undersides are black and glossy, which further complicates photography. Identifying these little critters will greatly expand my beetle families. LRB's coming soon . . . . In fact, I have examined my box of Phalacridae and now I'm suspicious of any I didn't find on flowers!

 
LRBs...
lol...my systematic entomology professor, Dr. David Maddison, a carabid specialist, called them 'LBJs' (little brown jobs)...