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Photo#46096
Tiny Flower Beetle - Brassicogethes simplipes

Tiny Flower Beetle - Brassicogethes simplipes
Near Ruraldale, Upshur County, West Virginia, USA
March 27, 2006
Size: 2.25 mm
Lots of these little black beetles were on coltsfoot blossoms, plunging their heads down deep into the flower.

So I asked myself, what beetle family feeds on flowers as adults, are tiny, and have clubbed antennae?

My first thoughts were Phalacridae (but mine isn't glossy like most), or maybe Nitidulidae or Dermestidae. The elytra seemed kind of squared off at the apex, allowing a little of the abdomen to show. One interesting trait was the flaring of the tibia on the middle and back legs.

ID help appreciated.

Images of this individual: tag all
Tiny Flower Beetle - Brassicogethes simplipes Tiny Flower Beetle - Brassicogethes simplipes

i now believe it's reasonably safe to move it here
Moved from Meligethes.

Further thoughts
Paul Beuk suggests genus Meligethes in Nitidulidae. Another thought I've had is family Kateretidae.

--Stephen

Stephen Cresswell
Buckhannon, WV
www.stephencresswell.com

 
Further discussion
Click on the other thumbnail too, because more ID discussion is there.

--Stephen

Stephen Cresswell
Buckhannon, WV
www.stephencresswell.com

 
Thanks; Russian link
Thanks to one and all who have commented. Following up on Paul's suggestion of Meligethes, I found this Meligethes image on a Russian webpage. I see the unusually flared tibiae are present in the specimen pictured on the Russian page.

http://www.zin.ru/Animalia/Coleoptera/rus/melvirhe.htm

--Stephen

Stephen Cresswell
Buckhannon, WV
www.stephencresswell.com

Nit is my guess.
(That's short for Nitidulidae.)

 
i agree
looks like a number of nitidulids in my collection and on this site.

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