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Photo#51491
Black and orange beetle - Ischalia costata

Black and orange beetle - Ischalia costata
Bethlehem, Grafton County, New Hampshire, USA
May 8, 2006
Size: 5.5mm
I'm at a loss as to what kind of beetle this is. I found it inside a rotten log that fell apart when I pulled on it.

Images of this individual: tag all
Black and orange beetle - Ischalia costata Black and orange beetle - Ischalia costata Black and orange beetle - Ischalia costata

Hey Tom,
Looks like we could add another family to our holdings by and by: Ischaliidae.

Ischalia costata
Ischalia adults have a large number of very unusual features that make it difficult to place the group. The larva I described some years ago came closer to those of Anthicidae than anything else. In my most recent paper describing three new Asian species, I went along with Russian colleague, Nikitsky, in treating the genus as Ischaliidae. I did also see one paper (based on molecular data) associating Ischalia with Aderidae. Unfortunately, very few aderid larvae have been described. In any case, these are very cool beetles! Ischalia costata and at least one of the two western species, Ischalia vancouverensis, are attracted to cantharidin.

I had to subscribe to this one
so I could find out what it was. Nice going, Tom!

Anthicidae: Ischaliinae: Ischalia costata
Most excellent! Currently placed in the Anthicidae, but I really think it sould be a pyrochroid. Dan Young disagrees with me. It may be recognized as forming its own family, which was proposed by the Russians awhile ago.

 
Ant-like Flower Beetle
This is way different than the other Anthicids I've found. Don, thanks for the ID, and thanks Jim.

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