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Rove beetle De Liereman, Oud-Turnhout, Belgium (Aug, 2015).<br /> It is a small but long-bodied beetle. Its wing covers (elytra) are short covering only its thorax, exposing the abdominal segments. The abdominal musculature is powerful and the abdominal segments are covered with sclerotized plates. Belgium,Coleoptera,Geotagged,Rove beetle,Staphylinidae,Summer Click/tap to enlarge

Rove beetle

De Liereman, Oud-Turnhout, Belgium (Aug, 2015).
It is a small but long-bodied beetle. Its wing covers (elytra) are short covering only its thorax, exposing the abdominal segments. The abdominal musculature is powerful and the abdominal segments are covered with sclerotized plates.

    comments (2)

  1. View Pudding4brains's profile
    Pudding4brains
    Lion
    View Lion class
    Hi Patomarazul,
    Sorry to say, but this is not Ocypus olens, so I will remove the ID and change tags accordingly.
    It's a shame about your nice write-up, so I've taken the liberty to add some images of a true "Devil's coach-horse" and used your text in the description:
    Devil's coach-horse (Ocypus olens) [some of the text below was originally written by Patomarazul as a description with this image<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/43321/devils_coach_horse_beetle.html<br /> but that image didn't show the species discussed]<br /> <br /> The "Devil's coach-horse beetle" with a length of 20-30mm is one of the largest Rove beetles in Europe. As with other Rove beetles the wing covers (elytra) are short, covering only its thorax, exposing the abdominal segments. The abdominal musculature is powerful and the abdominal segments are covered with sclerotized plates. It is capable of flight but its wings are rarely used. It is covered with fine black hairs. It is well known for its habit of opening its jaws and raising its long and uncovered abdomen, like a scorpion when threatened. This explains one of its alternative names, the cock-tail beetle. Although it has no sting, it can give a painful bite with its strong pincer-like jaws. It can also emit a foul smelling odour as a defensive, through a white secretion from a pair of glands at the end of its abdomen.<br /> Rove beetles (Staphylinidae) are generally hard to identify. It's a large family with many lookalikes for almost all the common species. A larger Ocypus olens (over 25mm) can be distinguished from most others merely by it's size, but you do need to measure not guestimate, as below 25mm there are many more candidates. Still, even for the larger ones, there are a few lookalikes than can reach the same size - most notably Ocypus tenebricosus and O. pedemontanus that also share some of the distribution area.<br /> Also there is some variance in how some authors delimit the genus Ocypus with some groups such as Tasgius or maybe Pseudocypus being either treated as a subgenus or as a genus in its own right. So, especially for the smaller species of Ocypus these need to be considered as lookalikes too.<br /> The image below has a few more perspectives on this specimen, that helped me identify it:<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/48037/ocypus_olens_-_collage.html Coleoptera,Devils coach-horse beetle,France,Geotagged,Ocypus,Ocypus olens,Rove beetle,Staphylinidae,Staphylinini

    If you have a problem with that, please let me know and I'll remove the text.

    As for your beetle: Staphylinidae are a daunting group to identify and usually require microscopic examination. I haven't studied the family and can't identify images like these - sorry. On the forum at waarneming.nl there is a Belgian expert who sometimes helps in identifying these, so you could try there (but no guarantees - many rove beetles end up without a definite name)     Posted 8 years ago, modified 8 years ago
    1. View Patomarazul's profile
      Patomarazul
      Lion
      View Lion class
      Hi Pudding:
      No problem! As I said, I am many times unsure of the species ID and I am happy that somebody else can help me correct them if they are wrong and no problem that you used the description in another spotting, that's fine :-) I will see in waarneming if they can ID my spotting then.       Posted 8 years ago

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By Patomarazul

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Uploaded Aug 9, 2016. Captured Jul 2, 2015 16:31 in Unnamed Road, 2360 Oud-Turnhout, Belgium.
country flag of Belgium Explore Belgium 1,910 1,459 0
  • SP-820UZ
  • f/4.5
  • 10/8000s
  • ISO80
  • 5.7mm
Captured in the summer. More summer photos.