Beetle - Airaphilus near-elongatus

alright... let's provide it a temporary shelter then...

thanks for the update, Mike.

Moved from Airaphilus.

… v belov, 4 October, 2011 - 10:11am

Another update

Dr. Halstead has had specimens of the Arizona Airaphilus for a month or so and I received this via snail-mail yesterday: "So far I have not got further with the Airaphilus from Arizona. I looked through the unnamed specimens in the Museum [of Natural History] and rechecked the named material but did not find the species. It is perhaps nearest/most similar to A. elongatus Gyll. (=geminus Kraatz) although differs in having a flatter, somewhat less robust head with different puncturation. I need to get hold of the original descriptions of one or two species described in the older literature for which I have little information apart from the reference. I'm still working on it!"

… Michael C. Thomas, 4 October, 2011 - 10:07am

UPDATE!

David Halstead confirmed it as an Airaphilus but could not identify it from the pictures that I sent and has requested that I send the specimen.

… Michael C. Thomas, 23 May, 2011 - 10:33am

Photo of same species by Michael C. Thomas,

collected and sent to him by Eric Moody:

… Jim McClarin, 26 April, 2011 - 7:14am

Moved

Moved from Beetles.

… v belov, 25 April, 2011 - 8:53am

It is definitely Airaphilus!

There are 35 described species of Airaphilus, with the genus confined exclusively to the Old World. This constitutes a new hemisphere record. We have identified representatives of 10 of the species in the FSCA and several unidentified ones. I compared the specimen Eric Moody sent and it matches none of them.

I will send pictures of it to D.G.H. Halstead in England, the world authority on Silvaninae. Unfortunately, he does not have e-mail so the pictures will have to go the old-fashioned way and it will be some time before we get feedback.

In the meantime, I recommend collecting as many specimens as possible and documenting the habitat in detail.

… Michael C. Thomas, 25 April, 2011 - 8:44am

I'd like to see your images, Michael.

Any chance you could post them on BG so we could link them to Eric's?

… Jim McClarin, 25 April, 2011 - 6:21pm

yaaaaaay

… v belov, 25 April, 2011 - 8:54am

wow!

This is definitely getting exciting! Is there a chance it could be an introduced species?

I'll be back in the area in a couple weeks, and I'll certainly try to collect more when I'm there. What other sort of habitat info would be useful?

… Eric Moody, 25 April, 2011 - 2:00pm

I've linked the head and full body shots.

This would be very cool if it's another completely undescribed species FOUND ON BUG GUIDE !!

… Jim McClarin, 13 April, 2011 - 5:39am

What would you think

of sending a specimen for examination? Also, what was the beetle doing when you collected it? Was it under bark?

… Michael C. Thomas, 11 April, 2011 - 1:33pm

I'll send you an email so we don't clutter this page with discussion about shipping.

… Eric Moody, 11 April, 2011 - 11:57pm

Your answer to Michael's question,

"What was the beetle doing when you collected it? Was it under bark?" would be very interesting if posted here I would think.

… Jim McClarin, 4 October, 2011 - 10:36am

Moved

Moved from ID Request. We seem to have agreement that this is a beetle.

… John F. Carr, 10 April, 2011 - 7:38am

It certainly looks

"silvanidish," but I've never seen anything quite like it. It looks a bit like the genus Airaphilus, which is confined to the Old World. I suspect it is not a silvanid. What is the tarsal formula? Are the anterior coxal cavities closed or open? Can you get a better straight-on dorsal shot?

… Michael C. Thomas, 9 April, 2011 - 8:31pm

sweet..........

........................***

… v belov, 9 April, 2011 - 8:44pm

the mystery continues?

Tarsal formula appears to be 4-4-4 with open coxal cavities. Does this help narrow it down?

… Eric Moody, 10 April, 2011 - 3:43pm

It excludes

it from the Silvanidae. The only genus in that family that is known to have a 4-4-4 tarsal formula is Uleiota, which this certainly is not.

… Michael C. Thomas, 11 April, 2011 - 7:57am

Is it a colydiid? Perhaps a q

Is it a colydiid? Perhaps a quote from American Beetles might fit here..."If it has 4-4-4 tarsi and doesn't fit anywhere else, try this family" Though colydiids don't have filiform antennae...hmm...

… Crystal Maier, 11 April, 2011 - 9:23am

facial features very un-colyd-esque

… v belov, 11 April, 2011 - 10:50am

hmm....

Anything else I can do to shed light on this mysterious beetle?

… Eric Moody, 11 April, 2011 - 3:34pm

sending it to Mike Thomas is the best solution i can think of

… v belov, 11 April, 2011 - 3:46pm

looks like

something in Silvanidae to me....

… Guy A. Hanley, 8 April, 2011 - 2:46pm

antennae are off for a silv.; looks nice anyway

head closeup, please? beware of tenebs -- always!

… v belov, 8 April, 2011 - 3:57pm

the added shot makes you case, Guy!

must ask Dr Thomas...

… v belov, 8 April, 2011 - 5:39pm

yeah

I was gonna say this really looks like a silvanid to me, but nothing matches easily in AB...southern AZ...could be a new country record? Crossing fingers :)

… Blaine Mathison, 8 April, 2011 - 5:42pm

found no match in BCA

intriguing.

… v belov, 8 April, 2011 - 6:54pm

cool!

Let me know if any additional shots would be helpful

… Eric Moody, 8 April, 2011 - 6:43pm