Beetle (sorry, but you lot are good!)

[Paul]

Came across this today on the local moorland, approx 2cm length... spectacular ... but I haven't a clue what it is... anyone able to help??

[Vince Massimo]

Paul,

I haven't got a clue either, but what a fantastic photo!

Vince

[Dave McCormick]

I can't give an exact ID, but looking at it, I guess its a type of ground beetle, there are quite a few in Britain, that one looks very nice though! One ones I know are violet ground beetles as I have seen many, but I don't think the colours are right for that.

[Pete Eeles]

Sheez - what a superb photo and what a beautiful creature! - wants to make me figure out what this critter is!

The closest I have in references to hand is Buprestis aurulenta (http://www.forestry.ubc.ca/fetch21/FRST ... olden.html) but definitely not that.

Was this taken in the UK Paul?

Perhaps it's a rare form of 5-legged beetle

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

I also think this is a ground beetle, Carabus sp. My beetle book is in the UK but from the internet I find C. auratus is similar, and also C. auronitens. Neither is right, but a Google image search for Carabus might find something closer if no one else on this site knows the exact species. I'm pretty sure someone will know, though!

Guy

[geniculata]

just been doing that myself under the assumption like you guy that its a carabus,

the closest ive come up with is carabus lineatus lateralis, but thats still not quite right. Isn't it a beauty, and what a cracker of an image paul.

gary.

[Paul]

Hmm it does look a lot like carabus lineatus lateralis, - it was just on Grinton Moor a few miles from home here today! Actually, once I saw how the shots came out, I just had to show it off!!

[geniculata]

must say paul im glad you did because not only is it a great image, but also an intresting find,
perhaps we should have a beetles thread?

gary.

[Mikhail]

I'd go for Carabus nitens.

Misha

[Padfield]

That looks very good indeed. Piccie here:

http://www.habitas.org.uk/groundbeetles ... ?item=7138

Guy

[Paul]

That's it!!! Thanks very much indeed Gary (oops Misha - sorry! ) - I couldn't find anything that fitted, tho' I spent a while googling carabus! Thanks Guy for the link.. perfect - wonder if it's unusual in England... habitat was precisely what the link describes

Oh, and I had to check.. don't enjoy imperfections, it really did have 6 legs!!!!

[geniculata]

nice one misha and guy,
you worked it out all right and i think your spot on!

gary.

[Gruditch]

perhaps we should have a beetles thread?

Gruditch

[Padfield]

My favourite beetle moment was watching this dung beetle roll his enormous ball of tasty poo along the edge of a (very quiet) road.



Guy

[Gwenhwyfar]

I've no idea how you know poo is tasty?

But these two today seem to be having fun.

Poplar Leaf Beetles

[Paul]

They are all cracking photos... some of them are really quite something, sometimes almost comical aren't they!!



- again no idea what.. Pyrenees last July!

[Padfield]

It's a longhorn beetle, Paul, family Cerambicidae. The only general insect book I have here in Switzerland points out that there are 20 000 longhorns in the world, several hundred in Europe and 70 in Britain. That is pretty much the same numbers as the whole of butterflies... !! Beetles represent a massive group!

I'm enjoying all these pictures.

Guy

[Mikhail]

Paul, it looks very like a beetle illustrated in my only beetle book, namely Leptura virens. It says: "The black colouring of this beetle's body is often scarcely discernible owing to its coat of long, thick greenish or grey hairs." It is a montane species in Central Europe.

Misha

[Padfield]

Looks like I'm the Google Images monkey. This is L. virens.

http://www.zin.ru/ANIMALIA/COLEOPTERA/i ... W_4861.jpg

I have a beetle book back in England with some 2000 species in it and it still claims to give only a small sample of each genus. Which book do you use, Mikhail?

Guy

[Padfield]

I've no idea how you know poo is tasty?

Come on, Gwen, doesn't that just look yummy?

Guy