Soft Winged Flower Beetle from UK

Subject: What’s this
Location: Essex, UK
May 1, 2016 10:09 am
Hi,
Lots of these in my house and curious as to what they are. Started appearing two weeks ago
Thanks
Signature: R

Soft Winged Flower Beetle
Soft Winged Flower Beetle

Dear R,
At first glance we assumed this was a Burying Beetle or Sexton Beetle, until we realized the antennae were quite different.  After a bit of searching on NatureSpot, we identified your Soft Winged Flower Beetle in the family Malachiidae as
Anthocomus fasciatus.  According to NatureSpot:  “Despite its size the adult is a predator of even smaller insects. The larvae of Anthocomus are predatory on the larvae of wood-boring beetles.”  BioLib also has a nice image.

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