CalevPhoto

A different rove beetle?

Some time ago I blogged about a rove beetle that I found in my backyard.  It was very peculiar in that it raised its tail like a scorpion and confronted me as I tried to take its picture.  Looking at the date, I blogged about this beetle in January of last year.

One of the interesting things about keeping a blog is it has caused me to ask questions that I normally would not ask.  The following came up with another similar specimen that I found over the weekend.

After looking at these pictures, I had the following questions.

1. Why did I find this beetle just now?  They are not common during other parts of the year.  Are they common during just a small part of the year?
2. This specimen looks a bit different than the other one.  It is slightly reddish while the other one is more pitch black.
3. It also did not raise its tail as a threat, but instead ran away quickly.  There were also several of them instead of just a single one as I found before.  It certainly seemed more docile than the other one.

I’m not sure if I have a perfect answer for these questions, but I did a little bit of research and have some ideas.

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The mysterious beetle larva

I must admit that sometimes I really wish I had chosen birds over insects. Sure, birds can be more difficult to find – or at least more difficult to find a great variety of them.  However, consider this.  There are somewhere between 9,800 to 10,050 known species of birds in the world.  According to some lazy research, there are approximately 320 species of birds that frequent Washington State.  I suspect in the area around Puget Sound, the number is smaller.  Sure, species identification can be difficult at times.  However a trained specialist given a good look at the bird and the sounds the bird makes can make a reasonable guess at the species of the bird.  Even the most difficult sightings can be whittled down to a handful of possible species.  Also, it is highly unlikely that I will come across a species of bird here in Washington State that has not been extensively studied already.

Contrast this to identifying anthropods.  I’m not exactly sure how many anthropod species have been identified.  However, there are currently 900,000 known species of insects, which are a subset of anthropods.  Just in Washington State, over 700 species of spiders have been identified.  Even today new species are occasionally found here.  Therefore, it can be very tricky identifying whatever I find.  This specimen currently perplexes me.

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The beetle from hell

Most of my insect shots come from my back yard, where I often walk around picking up objects and seeing what I could find. One recent day, I was rather excited to find this interesting little bugger.

At first I thought it was a type of earwig as they look somewhat similar.

This dead earwig was found in our house and was the first insect I ever shot with my then new MP-E 65.

However, all earwigs that I had seen had the typical red head and longer pincers on the end. I was a bit puzzled what this bug was. Even more peculiar was how it raised its tail as if it were a scorpion. Initially, I really thought it meant to sting me, though I doubted that it had the capacity. Here’s a closer look at it.

So I posted the pictures on a forum where there are people more knowledgeable about insects than I, and I found out that this is a type of rove beetle called the “Devils’ Coach Horse Beetle”. I felt that was a rather odd name for a beetle, so I decided to do some research. Wikipedia actually had an article about it and I found out some fascinating information.

1. The beetle originates from the British Isles, where it is the largest beetle found. It has migrated and become more common in North America but it is not native to our continent.
2. It received its name because it eats carrion and in medieval times people believed the devil would take the form of this bug to eat sinners.
3. As I thought, it does not have the capacity to sting you. However, it supposedly can bite you and inflict pain. Generally I do not pick up bugs with my bare hands though, so there was little worry of that happening. Supposedly carpenter ants can bite too, and I have photographed tons of them from mere millimeters and never have I been bitten.
4. They are natural predators of slugs and snails, so it is not too bad to have them around. Unfortunately they also eat earthworms, which I would much rather they leave alone.

This final photo was the closest I got. Knowing that I had some decent photos, I then let the beetle get back to its business.

Certainly since beginning insect photography I have learned quite a bit. There are a number of others species out there that I have no clue about, but with each new critter I unearth I learn a little bit more.