8mm of Meanness

I had no idea what I would find at 1:1 on this guy. Looks like size doesn't tell the whole story!

comments (3)

WildFlower

Lion

I'm afraid this is not Clivina fossor. If you look closely, you will see that the segments of the antennae are almost round while here they are rather elongated. The shape of the front legs is not the same either. Finally, I don't think it is found in the USA.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Clivina_fossor_bl.jpg
https://www.kaefer-der-welt.de/clivina_fossor.htm
http://carabidae.org/taxa/fossor-fossor-%28linnaeus-1758%29
http://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id3778/ Posted 9 years ago
1. Stephen Philips
  
  Lion
  
  Wildflower, I have scoured a lot of identification resources and did find that C. fossor is found in the US but I continued to dig (pun intended) a bit deeper into this one since identification of ground beetles is one of the toughest to get right. Here is what I feel most strongly about... http://bugguide.net/node/view/726816. Most of the images on bug guide are within the US and Canada even though the description in wikipedia does not list these countries and a natural place of origin. Posted 9 years ago, modified 9 years ago
2. 1. WildFlower
    
    Lion
    
    You are right, C. fossor is listed as an adventive species in the US. Yes, there are many of them and the differences are sometimes minute.
    It's probably not Harpalus affinis either - it has a big spur at the tip of the tibia while here it is very small. It is also rather greenish, not so black.
    https://www.kaefer-der-welt.de/harpalus_affinis.htm
    http://carabidae.org/taxa/affinis-schrank-1781
    http://bugguide.net/node/view/1083148/bgimage Posted 9 years ago