Gold and Brown Rove Beetle

bugman

August 9th, 2009 at 2:28 pm

Categories

Rove Beetles

Golden stripes and patch, looks like a nymph
August 8, 2009
I was working at the local paintball field when I saw this little guy flying around. Being a bug nut I had to catch it to take pictures. I put him in the freezer to cool down as he was capable of flight and was quite energetic. Unfortunately for the little fellow, I left him in to long and he passed away. I’ve seen other insects like him at the field but with much longer abdomens and overall larger bodies that pulsated very noticeably as they breathed.
Christopher Kukowski
Rushford, MN

Gold and Brown Rove Beetle

Hi Christoper,
You only need to keep an insect in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes to slow its metabolism enough to get a good photograph. This is a Gold and Brown Rove Beetle, Ontholestes cingulatus. According to BugGuide, it is: “Large for a rove beetle. Dark brown and hairy. Clumps of hair forms dark spots on much of body. Yellow hair forms “belt” under thorax, covers parts of last abdominal segments. Head wider than pronotum. Eyes large, prominently placed on sides of head. Found on carrion and fungi. Often turns yellow tip of abdomen upward when walking.“

Gold and Brown Rove Beetle

Wow, thank you very much! I looked up rove beetles online and that is what I now believe the other larger insect are that I’ve seen flying around there. I think it was hard for me to find what insect this was because I would have never guessed they were beetles, then again they did have hard shells covering their wings. I was curious to see if these guys could sting me so I dissected the little guy and found no stinger Also not only was it very pretty with the very reflective gold striped and patch on its bum but under its shell was a very brilliant green/blue iridescent color.
Thank you again Dan!