Subject: Black beetle in Santa Fe does a fearsome handstand
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
May 18, 2013 12:45 pm
I found this beetle, which was about the size of my thumb, outside my dormitory. When I poked it, it did a little handstand and stuck out its hind legs, presumably to dissuade me from eating it. I wasn’t actually hungry, but I was intimidated all the same.
Signature: Mendez

Acrobat Beetle

Dear Mendez,
We love your photo of an Acrobat Beetle or Desert Stink Beetle in the genus Eleodes.  When disturbed, the Acrobat Beetle sticks its butt up in the air and releases a foul odor to dissuade predators.  We often see Desert Stink Beetles in Los Angeles parks and open spaces and at Joshua Tree National Park.  You can browse BugGuide to try to identify your Acrobat Beetle to the species level based on the appearance of its fused elytra or wing covers and your location in New Mexico. 

Desert Stink Beetle: Eleodes species

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Subject: WHAT IS THIS BUG?
Location: ARIZONA
May 3, 2013 9:25 pm
STRANGE BUG MY FB FRIEND SEEN IN ARIZONA?
Signature: DAN

Desert Ironclad Beetle

Hi DAN,
This is a Desert Ironclad Beetle, Asbolus verrucosus, one of the Darkling Beetles.  More information and images of Desert Ironclad Beetles can be found on BugGuide.

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Subject: Philolithus morbillosus?
Location: West Texas
April 29, 2013 12:02 pm
We took this picture in Guadulupe Mountians National Park in West Texas. The only think I found similar to it on the internet is Philolithus morbillosus. We found it in July of 2012.
Signature: Tinker

Darkling Beetle

Dear Tinker,
We do not believe you have correctly identified this Darkling Beetle correctly.  If you look at the images of Philolithus morbillosus from BugGuide, you can see that the elytra or wing covers are more sculpted and the shape of the thorax is different.  We also believe you have the correct tribe, Asidini, as well as the correct family Tenebrionidae, the Darkling Beetles.  See examples of Asidini on BugGuide.  We will try to get Eric Eaton’s opinion, however he informed us he is traveling and will have limited internet access.

Eric Eaton confirms our suspicions
Daniel:
No, we are traveling NEXT week.  I’ve got blog assignments for a third party, though, so….
I believe this is a species of Asidopsis, but there are other similar genera, so….
Eric

Thanks Eric,
We suspected this was in the tribe Asidini, and Asidopsis seemed like a good possibility.

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Subject: Near Griffith Observatory
Location: Los Angeles
April 15, 2013 9:01 am
My son’s cub scout pack is interested in this beetle. Can you please identify? we found it on a path as we were hiking to Griffith Observatory in LA in 4-14-13. We were near Hollywood, CA.
Thanks,
Signature: Dan Y

Acrobat Beetle

Dear Dan Y,
This is a Desert Stink Beetle in the genus Eleodes, and they are commonly called Acrobat Beetles since they point their bottoms up in the air when threatened.  We used to see them quite frequently while hiking near the Observatory, back in the 90′s when the editorial staff of What’s That Bug? worked as the photography staff in the dome under the solar telescope.

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Subject: ID a beetle
Location: Southcentral California, desert
March 12, 2013 11:34 am
bugman: I was recently in Joshua Tree National park and saw two different beetles. One was clearly the Pinacate or Darkling (also called stink bug, clown beetle), but the other one, shown below I could not identify.
It was about the size of my little finger’s nail, so about 3/8of an inch or so across, black and round-backed. As you can see from the photo, it does not have a protruding head. We were in the western (Mojave Desert) portion of the park. It was a fast running bug.
Any help in identifying it would be appreciated.
Alan
Signature: Alan Palisoul

Darkling Beetle

Hi Alan,
Eric Eaton, who has been a tremendous help to us through the years, advised us long ago that if we couldn’t identify a beetle, chances were good it was a Darkling Beetle, so that is where we looked.  We believe we may have identified your beetle as a member of the genus Eusattus, based on this photo of Eusattus reticulatus posted to BugGuide.  We will contact Eric to see if he can confirm or correct our identification.

Eric Eaton Responds
Hi, Daniel:
Definitely a species of Eusattus, but I am by no means an expert on Tenebrionidae.  I’m not even sure who the contemporary experts are these days.  Triplehorn is still alive, and very courteous and helpful, but I hate to bother him.  He deserves a peaceful retirement
Eric

Daniel:  Thanks so much for getting back to me and doing so this quickly. IOn this same trip I got a couple of nice shots of a Darkling, one with it standing on it’s head. That was fun.
Thanks again, look forward to any more information you get.
Alan

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Subject: Egyptian beetle
Location: Egypt, Wadi Degla
February 23, 2013 10:12 am
Hi Bug guy,
I live in Cairo, Egypt. When I walk in the desert there is one diurnal beetle I see a lot. Yesterday I saw 20 of them, three together at one place. They are noticeably long-legged, with grooved elytra. Can you tell me what family or genus this beetle is in? Thanks, Greg
Signature: Greg

Darkling Beetle

Hi Greg,
This is a Darkling Beetle in the family Tenebrionidae.  It reminds us of the Desert Stink Beetles or Acrobat Beetles in the genus Eleodes that are found in North America, and though we do not believe your beetle is in the same genus, you can see the more specific taxonomy provided on BugGuide.  Your beetle looks similar to this Egyptian Darkling pictured on Getty Images and this Israeli Darkling on Media Focus.

Darkling Beetle

Thanks!  I had figured it was a teneb.  If you find out anything else about it I’m interested.  Thanks again, Greg

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Subject: Caterpillar Hunter/Calosoma
Location: Jamul, California
February 8, 2013 5:47 pm
I sent in a picture of a likely Western Tussock Moth larva today, but I had more trouble figuring this one out. It’s a black beetle, with sparse flecks of green, white and grey. Not surprisingly, he would blend in well with the large granite outcroppings in the region. Part of the reason why I think he’s a caterpillar hunter (Calosoma) is because I found him close to the Western Tussock Moth caterpillar, and he fits the general description. But there are so many species, I can’t figure out which one. In the pictures, you’ll see the caterpillar in the background – I want to point out that after taking these pictures, I took the caterpillar to some bushes nearby and released him. I didn’t feed him to the beetle. Also, I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures.
Signature: Ryan

Diabolical Iron Clad Beetle

Dear Ryan,
This is not a Caterpillar Hunter.  It is a Diabolical Iron Clad Beetle, the common name being a reference to the extremely hard exoskeleton that is sometimes pierced with nails when mounting.

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Subject: Beetle
Location: Magaliesberg mountains, South Africa
January 14, 2013 4:49 pm
Hi bugman
we found this plain black beetle in the Magaliesburg mountain on a hike in October (spring)
what is it?
Signature: Emer Mae

Tok-Tokkie

Dear Emer,
We thought we recognized this beetle as a Darkling Beetle we identified once before, so we searched our archives and found this posting of a White Legged Tok-Tokkie, Dichtha incantatoris.  We cannot make out the legs in your photograph, but otherwise it looks identical.  Perhaps the white legs on your individual are hidden under the body, or perhaps there are other Tok-Tokkies that do not have white legs.  We are relatively confident that this is either a White Legged Tok-Tokkie or a relative in the same genus.

Dear Bug Man
Thank you so much for your quick, and detailed responses.
I am a Scout here in the South African Scouting Association and the identification of insects that I find on my hikes are very important to include when I submit hike logs and report back, etc.
I will definately be returning to your site, and advising everyone else in the movement to do the same!
Thank you so very much
YiS
Emer Mae

We aren’t always so quick or so detailed.  Your photos were very nice and they are a nice contribution to our archive.

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