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Project Noah Nature School
Gnathaphanus sp.
About 20mm long, black beetle with striated and pitted elytra.
Remaining fairly still on a large cut log in a suburban garden.
It was so still (possibly because it is the middle of winter) I walked home, got my camera, walked back and took these shots. It wasn't dead though.
One fascinating thing about this critter is the fused elytra meaning they don't fly.. I guess that makes it a ground beetle.
http://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gnatha...
Family Carabidae... Gnathaphanus sp.?
Spotted on Jun 19, 2012
Submitted on Jun 23, 2012
3 Comments
Interesting info... "several species of Carabid beetle, which have fully functional wings, that would enable the insects in question to fly if they were deployed, but which are rendered useless because the elytra of these species are fused shut...." http://www.rationalskepticism.org/nonthe...
Thanks martin. That seems like a good clue. Searching...
This is a ground beetle Carabidae that includes tiger beetles. I have not found yours but here is an example of a similar one, probably the same genus.
http://gvcocks.homeip.net/Coleoptera/Car...
http://gvcocks.homeip.net/Coleoptera/Car...