Rove Beetle

Description:

A red and black Rove Beetle, 1 cm in length. The mandibles are long and narrow. This beetle was flying about on the curtains in the house and I thought at first it was a wasp. It is very fast both flying and running. It can fold and unfold its wings faster than your eye can detect it. This one has the head and prothorax black, with the elytra and the first two segments of the abdomen red. The last segments of the abdomen are black. Strangely, this is the reverse of most of the Rove Beetles in which the tip of the abdomen is often red. It is very sloppy about storing its wings, it flies so frequently that it doesn't bother to fold them up completely. Family Staphylinidae.