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Photo#484883
Ground Beetle - Calathus opaculus

Ground Beetle - Calathus opaculus
Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Virginia, USA
January 1, 2011
Size: ~10 mm
I found this interesting beetle in mud under a board in the garden. Identified to genus Calathus via BugGuide images and comments regarding the pectinate tarsal claws.

Images of this individual: tag all
Ground Beetle - Calathus opaculus Ground Beetle - Calathus opaculus Ground Beetle, Pectinate Tarsal Claw - Calathus opaculus Ground Beetle - Calathus opaculus

Moved
Moved from Calathus.

Calathus gregarius vs C. opaculus in VA
in which the luster of elytra is noticeably shiny in the former, but very dull in the latter. Otherwise, these two widespread species are not easy to separate using external characters. Luster is often hard to judge from photographs but easy to see when examining the specimen.

 
Thanks for taking the time to
Thanks for taking the time to look at this beetle Peter. I added another view of the pronotum and elytra, though I'm not sure they will help much. I think there is a definite change in sheen between pronotum and the elytra, but I can't go so far as to call the elytra dull, more like "leathery". I didn't collect the beetle, but don't recall a distinct impression one way or the other regarding shiny vs dull elytra.

 
C. opaculus
My vote would be for C. opaculus, based on apparent luster difference between pronotum and elytra. But as Peter notes, such characters are somewhat hard to judge from photographs.

good one; hopefully IDable to sp.
Moved from Beetles.

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