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Photo#511459
ID for a beetle on Horkelia? - Attalus sp-one-calif

ID for a beetle on Horkelia? - Attalus sp-one-calif
Claremont, Los Angeles County, California, USA
April 30, 2011
Size: 2 -2.5 mm
This tiny colorful beetle was spotted on Wedge-Leaf Honeydew, Horkelia cuneata ssp. puberula, at the Claremont Colleges' Robert J. Bernard Biological Field Station.

H. cuneata ssp. puberula is seriously endangered and in decline in California, but the factors contributing to its decline and are not known. We are collaborating with a University of California, Riverside, graduate student who is helping to develop a conservation plan for this plant species.

Nothing is known about the pollination biology of H. cuneata ssp. puberula, so identifying key pollinators could be important in developing an effective conservation plan. On April 30 Hartmut Wisch and I spent some time observing, photographing, and collecting insects visiting the H. cuneata, and these beetles were one of two kinds that were very common on the flowers.

This photo is of a different individual photographed at the same time:

Images of this individual: tag all
ID for a beetle on Horkelia? - Attalus sp-one-calif ID for a beetle on Horkelia? - Attalus sp-one-calif ID for a beetle on Horkelia? - Attalus sp-one-calif ID for a beetle on Horkelia? - Attalus sp-one-calif

Moved
Moved from Attalus.

Moved
Moved from Malachiinae. Confirmation of Attalus by V. Belov here.

Moved
Moved from Beetles.

Check Attalus

 
Looks very likely!
Thanks for the pointer! It certainly looks like Attalus to me, but I'd like confirmation from an expert. If it is, do you know what characters we would need to identify to species?

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