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Project Noah Nature School
Odontotaenius disjunctus
Large beetles I found upside down when I picked up the log (they must have been crawling on the underside of the log).
Under a decaying log in a pine and oak forest in the Withlacoochee State Forest Citrus A tract
These are really fun little beetles. They don't bite, and are relatively slow, so even small children can pick them up. What's fun is that they make soft squeaky "kissing" sounds when frightened. I kept one in a terrarium with rotting wood,deep soil to burrow in, and fed fruit and veggies for several months.
I think this is not a ordinary ground beetle (family: Carabidae) but a species of the Passalidae family.
Spotted on Mar 7, 2015
Submitted on Mar 10, 2015
