beetle - Asiopus minimus

Moved

… john and jane balaban, 22 October, 2008 - 8:39pm

Thanks for all the clarification guys!

Can't wait till summer gets here and i can start photographing some more!! How bout you all?

… Andrew Meeds, 29 January, 2007 - 6:16pm

Ha!

I can't say I've slowed down much, although I can't use lights or sweep net during the winter. There are adults and larvae overwintering and there are some hexapods that wait till winter to emerge. Litter sifting, bark stripping, and log and branch splitting are good techniques for winter collecting/photography.

… Jim McClarin, 29 January, 2007 - 9:14pm

still...

baseball has started at my high school so I've not had much time...

… Andrew Meeds, 30 January, 2007 - 7:21pm

Moved

Moved from Blapstinus fortis.

… Jim McClarin, 29 January, 2007 - 5:39am

Moved

Moved from Darkling Beetles.

… Jim McClarin, 29 January, 2007 - 5:34am

Blapstinus

This is Blapstinus

… kanchan, 21 December, 2006 - 12:18am

Opatrinus rather

likely, O. minimus

… v belov, 21 October, 2008 - 3:43am

Blapstimus dispar

is the closest I could find in the UFL checklist of eastern tenebrionidae but it still doesn't appear to have elytral punctuation as prominent as this beetle. Compare.

… Jim McClarin, 21 December, 2006 - 5:24am

Theres also another large spe

Theres also another large species, B. Fortis which is more common. The two are distinguished by the pronotal puncture. I believe dispar has elongate punctures medially, while fortis just has normal ones. Can't really see in this photo which it would be.

… kanchan, 28 January, 2007 - 10:24pm

It's B. fortis then.

As an editor I can zoom in on this image and all pronotal punctuation appears to be consistently sized and shaped. No sign of elongate punctures. Moving image.

… Jim McClarin, 29 January, 2007 - 5:30am

I take it back, not fortis!

I've just compared images of fortis with this species and the elytral punctuation is smaller on fortis. Moving back to genus.

… Jim McClarin, 29 January, 2007 - 5:38am

Darking beetle.

I am pretty sure this is a darkling beetle in the family Tenebrionidae, but not sure which genus.

… Eric R. Eaton, 19 September, 2006 - 4:17pm

thanks

thanks... i'll check that out...:D

… Andrew Meeds, 19 September, 2006 - 4:28pm

upon further investigation

i think this may be an ironclad beetle...(also called a death feigning beetle)

Cryptoglossa verrucosa

… Andrew Meeds, 19 September, 2006 - 4:34pm

The ironclads have a bit of an hourglass shape to them that this one lacks.

… Jim McClarin, 19 September, 2006 - 4:39pm

ok... i'll search some more...

pretty close other than that though...

edit: this is the death feigning beetle like i said... however, they are sometimes called iron clad beetles: check out what this person said:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/38580/bgpage

quote:

This is a tenebrionid. The common name is "death-feigning beetle," or "ironclad beetle." The latter name is more properly applied to Zopheridae, hence the confusion. The scientific name of this specimen is Cryptoglossa verrucosa (though it might be a closely related species). Nice images of cool critters often kept in captivity.

… Andrew Meeds, 19 September, 2006 - 5:49pm

Another difference I note

is that the elytra of yours has large punctures along the stria whereas C. verrucosa has raised warty bumps covering the elytra.

… Jim McClarin, 19 September, 2006 - 6:01pm

oh...

lol... scratch that theory... more research for me!!

… Andrew Meeds, 19 September, 2006 - 6:08pm