a scanning electron microscope dorsal image of the head, thorax and elytra of the Palaminus rove beetle from dry forest in Area de Conservacion Guanacaste

A gigapan panoramic image of the forest where the beetle was collected at 600 m on the slopes of Volcan Cacao in ACG Costa Rica http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/197992

a light microscope frontal image of the head, thorax and elytra of the Palaminus rove beetle from dry forest in Area de Conservacion Guanacaste

It's been snowing in #Guelph; so here's a look at a beautiful #staphylinid from #ACG in #CostaRica. Palaminus is found in dry forest to rain forest transitions like this #GigaPan from #VolcanCacao

explore the forest: www.gigapan.com/gigapans/197...
explore the beetles: doi.org/10.5883/BOLD...

OK - 1 of my favourite things that I learned today was that a #Triassic #dinosaur liked eating #staphylinid beetles & that researchers inferred the dinosaur's, "...beak-like jaws ...were used to efficiently peck small insects off the ground, a feeding behaviour analogous 2 some extant #birds."

A scanning electron microscope image on a rover beetle elytra. Insect cuticle covered with small numbs and hairs. The outline looks vaguely like Darth Vader ‘s helmet to me.

Some #staphylinid counter programming tonight.

Beautiful elytra of a staphylinid #beetle from the #CloudForest of #AreaDeConservacionGuanacaste in #CostaRica #entomology #biodiversity