Rain Beetles attracted to Black Light Trap

Subject: Pleocoma hoppingi ?
Location: Hwy 108 east of Twain Hardt
January 26, 2015 7:12 am
Took these at Hwy 108 east of Twain Hardt , Calif. yesterday early morning with my home made black lite traps . I am hopeing they are Pleocoma Hoppingi males. gst
Signature: Gene St. Denis

Hi Gene,
These are certainly Rain Beetles in the genus Pleocoma, but we cannot say conclusively that they are P. hoppingi.  According to BugGuide:  “34 spp., all in our area” and sightings on BugGuide are all limited to California and Oregon.  Some of those species have very limited ranges.  BugGuide has images of mounted specimens of   P. hoppingi. that are from Tuolumne County, the same county where your collection occurred.  You might want to consider taking a specimen to your local Natural History Museum for identification purposes.  What were the weather conditions during the collection?  Was it raining or about to rain?

Daniel, It was clear skies, breezy, and warm couple days with almost all
the snow melted , except for north sided slopes with small patchs of 2
to 4 inch snow.     gst

Thanks for providing that information Gene.