ID request - Brachinus - BugGuide.Net

Moved

… Curt Harden, 9 August, 2022 - 5:07pm

Thank you Curt

for your decision. I'll keep "Nevada" on the post-2012 Caraboid Registry based on the Nevada paper by Will et al.

… Peter W. Messer, 9 August, 2022 - 5:24pm

I'm having the same concerns as Peter,

Just keyed out several Brachinus from Texas as Brachinus phaeocerus, and they are not the same species as this one here.

… Curt Harden, 17 December, 2020 - 4:35pm

Terry Erwin says, "Brachinus phaeocerus Chaudoir.

"...A new state record!!"

nice -- thanks for interesting addition, Bruce! keep them coming. =v=

Moved from ID Request.

… v belov, 26 November, 2012 - 10:23am

My concerns about calling this Brachinus "phaeocerus".

Today I ran a female specimen of Brachinus from Kansas (Morton Co., leg. Will Chatfield-Taylor) through the North American key by Terry Erwin. It fits well the key and descriptive notes for Brachinus phaeocerus Chaudoir. I feel that the B. phaeocerus imaged here appears sufficiently different from my physically-determined specimen. Here is a summary of my concerns:

Prior to Bruce's specimen, the known western limit for the mostly Great Plains B. phaerocerus was northcentral Colorado to southeast Arizona, so Nevada (southern portion) is a bit unexpected. The body size here is ~1 cm (10 mm), more than the reported upper limit of 8.9 mm. I believe the image fails to show the expected really bright blue elytra; the elytral costae (ridges) appear too strong; the tibiae and tarsi fail to show dark coloration against lighter femora; pronotum fails to show dense prominent rugae (wrinkles) and dense setigerous punctae; the second antennomeres ought to be at least partially blackish.

Of course Terry Erwin's call was based on just these couple of distant images and so photographic foolery might be occurring. Terry knows way more about intraspecific variations and so that might be what's going on here. I'm quite open to the explanation that my specimen is not B. phaeocerus.

Bruce, hopefully you saved this important voucher specimen so that Brachinus expert Terry Erwin could examine it. Anyone, please feel free to forward this BugGuide page to Terry for additional comment. I am also available to study it if you wish. In meantime, this Nevada record remians documented at the Post-2012 Caraboid Registry/Forum. Also be aware that Kip Will et al. (2017) included this BugGuide record in their recent paper on Nevada Carabidae. Thank you.

… Peter W. Messer, 22 December, 2018 - 11:10am

Brachinus "phaeocerus" specimen

Doggone, I don't have the specimen. I moved to New Hampshire more than 3 years ago and discarded my small collections at that time. Since all we have is these photos and my minimal measurements, I'd recommend this record be listed as questionable to the species level.

… Bruce Lund, 22 December, 2018 - 6:41pm

I'm hoping Terry Erwin and possibly Kip Will offer

their opinions before any new action is taken. We continue to learn. Thanks.

… Peter W. Messer, 22 December, 2018 - 6:57pm

Thanks for the state record info

Well now, it's nice to get a state beetle record! Having focused on southern NV odonates for the past few years, I've accumulated a half dozen county records and at least one state record. That's what happens when you are one of the few people looking and sending in data.

… Bruce Lund, 26 November, 2012 - 1:09pm

ID to species!

Thanks for getting this to species.

… Bruce Lund, 26 November, 2012 - 10:25am

credits all go to Dr Erwin; all i did was ask him to take a look

you may want to check his revision(1)

… v belov, 26 November, 2012 - 10:30am

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… v belov, 26 November, 2012 - 9:21am

Brachinus sp.

… v belov, 25 November, 2012 - 8:49pm