Subject: What is this bug???
Location: South Africa, Grassland biome
December 2, 2012 11:08 am
We came across this bug while hiking, its black with white legs, it looks like it has 8 legs but it could be 6 and 2 antennae. It was found in a rock, summer time, cloudy weather, on a hill… hopefully this helps, I’m not sure what bug it is. Thanks so much,
Abigail
Hi Abigail,
We believe this is a Darkling Beetle in the family Tenebrionidae, but we have not been able to verify that speculation with any matching images online including at the Beetles of Africa catalog page nor at Beetles in the Bush.
Thanks.. I can’t seem to find any images of the Darkling bug I found.. are there any sites or even books I can search ????
Update: December 3, 3012
Thanks to a comment posted by Cesar Crash of Brazil, we now know that this is a Darkling Beetle known as the White-Legged Tok-Tokkie, Dichtha incantatoris. That has to be one of the best common names we have heard in a long time and it was found in Beetles in the Bush which links to this photograph by Eckart Stolle.
Hi, Daniel. I believe that this is Dichtha incantatoris. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bogzla/6703374093/in/set-72157628869256293
Beetles In The Brush is talking about them as the “white-legged tok-tokkie in this page: http://beetlesinthebush.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/tempting-tok-tokkies/
Thanks so much Cesar. White-Legged Tok-Tokkie is a great name.