Categories
BeetlesDevil’s Coach Horse?
Hi.
After browsing your site I think my bug looks like a Devil’s Coach Horse but I’m not sure. The bug was very soft to touch (yak). The photo was taken in Tuscany, Italy. A friend of mine who is quite into animals but not really into bugs says it’s a short winged bug. Do you know the latin name?
Mark.

Hi Mark,
This is a Devil’s Coach Horse, Staphylinus olens. The species was introduced to California around 1931 from Europe. We love them in our garden where they eat snails and slugs. Eric Eaton just gave us this update: “Oh, Staphylinus olens is now Ocypus olens, for the time being at least!”
Related Posts
- Devil’s Coach Horse (September 5, 2005)
- Devil’s Coach Horse (March 16, 2006)
- Devil’s Coach Horse (February 15, 2006)
- Devil’s Coach Horse (August 29, 2007)
- Devil’s Coach Horse (October 3, 2008)




Post a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.