Black Firefly - Lucidota atra?

This beetle was small - maybe 6 mm.

Habitat: Found on a rock in a mesic, mixed forest.

comments (6)

Pudding4brains

Lion

Howdy Christine, I don't believe for a second that this would be a Cantharidae - the whole habitus screams Lampyridae and it looks like your first hunch would have been much better. Only genus in the Cantharidae that has a pronotum shape that comes more or less close would be Discodon imho and I'm confident it's not that.
I'd say Lucidota indeed. L. atra seems to cover a broad range in size (7,5-13mm) and if the IDs on BG are correct (?) it _does_ come with a much narrower pale margin on the pronotum on occasion:
https://bugguide.net/node/view/786777/bgpage
But possibly the smaller Lucidota punctata (<6mm) is a better option? From the few images on BG it is safe to assume that the colouring of the pronotum is wildly variable for this species too.

Here is something of a key :
https://biologicalsurvey.ca/ejournal/lmb_16/lmb_1683.htm
Going by that, your seems a bit broader and not so hairy to me, so my money would probably be on a small sized atra ... but you know the disclaimer: Not an expert on Nearctic beetles ... far from it.

P.S. Same key as PDF here: https://cjai.biologicalsurvey.ca/lmb_16/lmb_16.pdf Posted 4 years ago, modified 4 years ago
1. Christine Young
  
  Lion
  
  Thank you! That BG image, assuming it is correctly identified, is very convincing. I was using a beetle book to ID this beetle and the photos of L. atra did not match this beetle. I was totally stymied. But, I should have done a bit more research, so thanks for the kick in the rear. Posted 4 years ago
2. 1. Pudding4brains
    
    Lion
    
    Ahw ... wasn't intended to be perceived as "kicking" ... sorry ... hope it didn't hurt too much ;o) Posted 4 years ago
  2. 1. Christine Young
      
      Lion
      
      Okay, let's call it a "gentle nudge" then. And, it was appreciated, no pain was inflicted ;). Posted 4 years ago
    2. 1. Pudding4brains
        
        Lion
        
        OOoohmpfff, all good *relieved* ;o) Posted 4 years ago
      2. Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        <3 Posted 4 years ago

The Black firefly

''Lucidota atra'', the black firefly, is a species of firefly in the family of beetles known as Lampyridae. It is found in Central America and North America.

Info 4 0

Similar species: Beetles

Species identified by Christine Young