Rove Beetles

As promised, today we have some beetles.

beetle

staphilinid

These tiny rove beetles were in the vicinity of the same native fire ant nests where I found the silverfish (from the previous post.)

Rove beetles or staphylinid beetles (Staphylinidae) have short elytra that only cover a part of the abdomen. These held their abdomen curved up over their backs.

A number of species in the family Staphylinidae are found associated with ants. Some species are predatory, others are scavengers, and some have complex interactions.

I don’t think the ones in the photographs resemble any of the “ant-loving” staphylinids shown at Bug Guide.

Let me know if you have any idea what they are. Or if you would like any further information about them.

Edit:  Dale Ward has found what seems to be the same rove beetles with Southern fire ants as well. See his Solenopsis xyloni page.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.