Snail-eating Beetle

Description:

Snail-eating Beetle moving along hiking trail

Habitat:

Pacific Northwest montane mixed coniferous and deciduous forest ecosystem

Notes:

Spotted along Indian Trail in Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park near Issaquah. The beetle in this spotting is remarkably similar to a spotting I posted a couple of days ago from Vancouver Island, except for two obvious differences. The beetle in that other spotting is shiny. It looks almost lacquered. The beetle in this spotting is obviously dull. It's kind of a glossy vs. matte difference. Also there seems to be a minor difference between the two in the shape of the trailing edge of their elytra. I know almost nothing about entymology, so don't know if either or both of those differences would be enough to place them in different species, or if they may be opposite sexes and the differences are attributable to dimorphism. Finally, I think the orange spot on the right side of the thorax of the beetle in this spotting is probably anomalous and not part of its anatomy or physiology. The second and third pictures have been added to provide side-by-side comparison of the two.