Pie-dish beetle

A nice little find while gardening yesterday, one of our nocturnal pie-dish beetles. Apologies for not having the whole body in focus, it was in such an awkward location, deep within a recess between my tall conifers, hunkered down to rest. I admit that I reached in and tried to encourage it to move closer by gently tapping with a small twig - but with each tap, it would lower the flange on that side as a defense, and stayed resolutely in the same position. I stopped to give it peace and in case it fell and I lost the chance to photograph.

The common name refers to their general pie-dish shape and broad body flanges around the edges of the elytra and prothorax. The flanges protect the underside of the beetle from predators, (or humans like me, tapping with a twig)....sheltering the head and legs from attack by spiders (particularly redbacks), scorpions, ground beetles (family Carabidae) and ants during their extensive night-time foraging.

The Pterohelaeus spp. are often dusty blue in colour, while Helea spp. are nearly always black.

These beetles are representatives of the large cosmopolitan darkling beetle family, Tenebrionidae. The genus Pterohelaeus to which this one belongs, contains both flightless and winged species.

15 mm length