Can you please tell us what kind of bug this is?Hi WTB!
Hello WTB.
Can you please tell us what kind of bug this is? We sure hope so! We found this bug on the dirt path in our back yard. We caught it in our bug vacuum, shortly after releasing an ant lion. I am 8 and brother is 6 and we LOVE bugs, so you can expect lots of questions and photos from us in the future, now that we’ve discovered your great website. We are anxiously awaiting your answer. Thanks! We live in El Cajon, California.
Thank you for your help!
The RamFam4
Dear RamFam4,
Sorry to have taken so long to get back to you, but we have been busy and also the site was down, yet again, due to heavy traffic. We wrote to Eric Eaton for assistance on your beetle. He wrote back: “The hairy beetle is some kind of Tenebrionidae darkling beetle. I’ll forward this message to a friend of mine who is an authority on California beetles. He’ll probably know the genus at least.” We hope to hear more and get you a more positive identification.
Ed. Note: We later heard back from Eric who contacted expert Art Evans who contacted Warren Steiner at USNM. According to Art: “the winner is Trichiasida! This, according to my friend and teneb expert, Warren Steiner at the USNM. According to me, the likely species are hirsuta, hispidula, gabbi, or impetrata. The genus was last revised by T.L. Casey in 1912 and is need of revision!”