A heap of small beetles with green elytra and red pronota partly hidden under a piece of bark

On this #tenebtuesday — a favorite teneb (& favorite photo of a heap of 'em), Neomida bicornis (Fabricius, 1777) [Diaperinae: Diaperini]? Their pronotal coloration is variable, from shining metallic green in some beetles to red in others, & the males have two tiny horns!

And this #TenebTuesday an answer (at last!)—this is the rarely collected Prateus fusculus LeConte, 1862, a member of the subfamily Lagriinae & type genus of the recently-established tribe Prateini (Aalbu et al. 2023)

A reddish-brown beetle specimen with moderately long antennae and two labels reading "Cin. O. / V-28-[?]" and "'Tenebrionidae / unknown' teste Horn"

A mystery teneb for this #TenebTuesday — specimen collected by Charles Dury in Cincinnati &, until last month, was only identified as "'Tenebrionidae unknown' teste [George Henry] Horn" — any guesses?

A green and brown beetle with punctate elytra on a white background

And for #TenebTuesday here’s Strongylium crenatum Mäklin, 1867—this species is widespread in the southeastern US, but can separated from the other co-occurring Strongylium by its iridescent green coloration, punctate elytral striae, & indistinct, crenate pronotal margins

A macro photo, side angle at ground level, of a black darkling beetle on orange desert sandy soil. The beetle has its head down and butt angled up, a posture that warns that it can emit an unpleasant odor.

Here is your Tuesday Tenebrionid for #TenebTuesday, one of the many Eleodes sp. darkling beetles that people call stink bugs. This is its "I fart in your general direction" posture. Honestly, I've never noticed an odor, but my sense of smell isn't great. Maybe I'm lucky. Pryor Mountains, Montana. 🌿🐙

A grey-black round beetle with yellow setae along the junction of its head and pronotum sitting on the ground

Back from an end-of-semester-hiatus here's Epiphysa ciliata Bates, 1872 (Pimeliinae: Adesmiini) for this #TenebTuesday —1 of 9 distinctively globose spp found across arid southern Africa. They are “crepuscular to nocturnal,” retreating to “rocky crevices or mammal burrows” in the day (Penrith 1978)

A macro photo of a round, dark brown beetle on fine, orange sand, from a front 3/4 profile. The beetle's body is covered in sparse, straight, hairs, most of which stick straight up like the beetle is full of static electricity.

Here is your TuesdayTenebrionid for #TenebTuesday 🐙🌿 Tenebrionidae is a beetle family commonly called ground beetles. This wee fuzzball is Edrotes leechi. It resembles an Edrotes I've seen in the Mojave Desert, but this was in Montana's Pryor Mountains. The Pryors include Montana's only red desert--

A dorsal view of a pinned darkling beetle specimen with black body/appendages, punctate pronotum and striate elytra

A ventral view of a pinned darkling beetle specimen with black and red-tinted body, black appendages, and tufts of golden setae on tarsi

Back from an unintended break — for this #TenebTuesday here's very typical (looking) #tenebrionid — Bouchardandrus concolor (LeConte, 1866), only species in the genus & only known to from the Great Lakes region of Canada (MB ON QC) & US (MI MN OH WI) (Steiner 2016, Bousquet et al. 2018)

A brown beetle with ridged elytra and tuberculate pronotum sitting on light orange sand

On this #TenebTuesday an excellent #tenebrionid — a species of Trogloderus (Blaptinae: Amphidorini) — the nine distinctively sculptured species are restricted to sandy areas & dunes in the western United States.

A dorsal view of double-mounted (pinned) specimen of a beetle with an orange head and pronotum and elytra covered in light/off-grey setae that form patterns

A lateral view of double-mounted (pinned) specimen of a beetle with an orange head and pronotum and elytra covered in light/off-grey setae that form patterns

For this #TenebTuesday a deceptive #tenebrionid — Nilio (Linio) lanatus Germar, 1824 from Bahia, Brazil. Nilio adults & larvae (& sometimes aggregations of either or both stages!) can be found on trunks & branches of trees, where they have been observed feeding on fungus & lichens #Coletopera

A brown, setose beetle nibbling on a dry blade of grass against an sandy orange background

And for this #TenebTuesday here's the distinctively diminutive, setose Eleodes barbata Wickham, 1918 (Blaptinae: Amphidorini)—the species is found in the Four-Corners region of the Colorado Plateau (AZ, CO, NM, & UT)—this beetle was voraciously nibbling on a dry blade of grass!

A macro photo at ground level, on sand, looking into the face of a matte-black beetle. The head and thorax are in the frame, but only a portion of the abdomen is visible, out of focus, in the background. The beetle has small, also matte-black compound eyes, and the tips of the toes are orange.

Here is your second Tuesday Tenebrionid for #TenebTuesday. This beetle, also from Joshua Tree NP, was larger and more heavily armored than the one I posted earlier. I like the small compound eyes, and (although they're out of focus here), the orange toe-tips. Overall an excellent beetle. 🐙🌿📷

Black round beetle on hand, with knobbed antennae, and lots of white long hairs all over its body with longer hairs on its elytrae.

Here is your Tuesday Tenebrionid. (For beetles in the family Tenebrionidae, aka darkling beetles.) I found this harry fellow along with many others in Valley of Fire State Park near Las Vegas. iNat suggests Edrotes ventricosus. #insects #TenebTuesday

A macro photo at ground level, on orange-ish sand, looking into the face of a beetle. The beetle is flat black and covered in fine orange hairs, which have trapped a layer of fine sand on top of its body. The face widens like a shovel just below the small black compound eyes, creating what look sort of like jowls.

Here is your Tuesday Tenebrionid. (For beetles in the family Tenebrionidae, aka darkling beetles.) I found this hirsute little nugget in Joshua Tree NP. I love the "jowls," and how the coating of hairs traps sand, perhaps to disguise it? iNat suggests Craniotus pubescens. 🐙🌿 #insects #TenebTuesday

A view of the head and pronotum of large blue beetle specimen

A top-down view of a large blue beetle specimen with wrinkled elytra

It's #TenebTuesday! This large (>2 cm), intricately sculptured #tenebrionid from Malawi is Catamerus revoili Fairmaire, 1887 (Lagriinae: Pycnocerini)—the 19 Pycnocerini genera are largely found in tropical Africa, w/ 3 in the Philippines, Indonesia, & Malaysia (Schawaller 2003)

An plate illustrating five brown to black tenebrionid beetles (in the genera Salax, Edrotes, Triorophus, and Calyptopsis), with line drawings of head, palp, and antennal details

A green paper cover with text reading "SUITES A BUFFON, PLANCHES, 5 Livraison, INSECTES, COLÉOPTÈRES. PARIS, A LA LIBRAIRIE ENCYCLOPÉDIQUE DE RORET. Rue Hautefeuille, N°12"

For this late night #TenebTuesday here's a hand-colored plate of #tenebrionids from Lacordaire's monumental Genera des Coléoptères—this collection of twelve plates and text explanations was still in their original paper wrappers!

Adult & larval forked fungus beetles (family Tenebrionidae) are found on/in shelf fungus across the eastern U.S. & Canada—& despite their appearance they can fly! #TenebTuesday

A bumpy brown beetle with two rounded pronotal horns sits on a white and brown shelf fungus.

And before another #TenebTuesday is over—this is Bolitotherus cornutus (Fabricius, 1801) [Tenebrioninae: Bolitophagini], THE Forked Fungus Beetle! Males have a distinctive pair of curved, forward-pointing pronotal horns—zoom in to see the mites & pscoid on the pronotum & elytra! #Coleoptera

A flattened, black beetle with its pronotum and elytra covered in white waxy pruinescence and grains of sand.

For #TenebTuesday here is a species of the genus Eurychora (Pimeliinae: Adelostomini) from Namibia—note the waxy, filamentous cuticular pruinescence & how it accumulates detritus to camouflage the beetle! #Coleoptera

A macro photo of a beetle, viewed from the side, atop a green leaf. The beetle is a deep, semi-gloss denim blue, and has red on its first leg segments. It also has two short, blunt horns on its head, resembling cow horns.

Here is your Tuesday Tenebrionid. Tenebrionidae is a large family of beetles, generally called darkling beetles. Many are black or brown, but this one, from several years ago in Borneo, was denim blue with fancy red leggings, plus nifty cow horns. #TenebTuesday 🐙🌿📷

A elongate oval beetle on a white sheet

A line drawing showing the distinctively-shaped head of Polemiotus submetallicus

For a belated #TenebTuesday — this is Polemiotus submetallicus (LeConte, 1854) [Pimeliinae: Epitragini] from a light sheet in Arizona this summer. The only species in the genus, this large, elongate, flighted #tenebrionid is found in Arizona & nw Mexico & recognizable by its distinctive head shape!

Two small beetle specimens glued to a T-shaped "point"

It's #TenebTuesday! The tiny #tenebrionids on this intriguing two for one "point" are Soemias minuta Champion, 1884 (Pimeliinae: Edrotini), from Tabasco, Mexico #Coleoptera #Tenebrionidae

A flattened/circular, dark brown beetle, with three raised ridges on its elytra, sitting on orange sand

A flattened/circular, dark brown beetle, with three raised ridges on its elytra, burrowing into orange sand

A ventral view of a flattened/circular, dark brown beetle with legs held tightly against its body

It’s #TenebTuesday! Another “pancaked” #Adelostomini —Stips sp.—photographed at night near Gobabeb Namib Research Institute. The adult beetles spend the days buried in the sand, emerging at night to forage on the dunes. #Coleoptera #Tenebrionidae

And for the first #TenebTuesday of 2025—another angle of Ammodonus granosus—this genus can be separated from other North American #tenebrionids by their indented clypeus, divided eyes, and body densely covered in scale-like setae! #Coleoptera

An oval beetle covered in yellow/tan setae sitting on a white sheet

It's the last #TenebTuesday of 2024—this is the amazingly "scaly" Ammodonus granosus Fall, 1912 (Blaptinae: Opatrini)—Ammodonus species are festooned w/ flattened, scale-like setae! Photographed at a blacklight sheet in southern AZ #Tenebrionidae #Coleoptera

A small black beetle, with its short antennae extended, perched on a clump of sand grains

A tiny, troublesome (to identify) #tenebrionid for this #TenebTuesday: Cheirodes californicus (Horn, 1870) (Tenebrioninae: Melanimonini), the only species of Melanimonini from the U.S., found in western deserts. The genus has quite an aphodiine scarab gestalt!

A macro photo of a matte-finish, purplish-brown beetle atop an orange plant stem.

For #TenebTuesday, here's a darkling beetle (family Tenebrionidae) from Anza Borrego Desert, California last weekend. It was in a creosote bush (I usually find tenebs on the ground). About 6 mm. A pretty little thing, with a subtle purplish/bluish cast to it. Its eye looks like a blackberry. 🐙🌿

Steiner (2005) notes Nautes azurescens specimens from Cuba "are generally larger and metallic greenish, Florida specimens are more blue-green in color but less brightly metallic, and the Bahamian ones are intermediate in color and much less brightly shining." #TenebTuesday

This specimen was collected by W.S. Blatchley —his brief label says “R.P.P. Fla. ... 3-25-24”—but in an unpublished manuscript, “Winter & Spring Insects of Royal Palm Park,” he included more details (under the synonym N. viridimicans)—beetles were “beaten from dead limbs” #PERCBugs #TenebTuesday

A dorsal view of a pinned, metallic blue-purple beetle

It’s #TenebTuesday! Outshining the name “darkling beetle” this is Nautes azurescens (Jacquelin du Val, 1857) [Tenebrioninae: Helopini] from USA: Florida, Cuba, & the Bahamas. Adults “taken at lights … [but] habits of this species are unknown” (Steiner 2005) [scale = 1mm] #Coleoptera #PERCBugs