# beetle larvae ID ..anybody?



## Galapoheros (Oct 19, 2009)

I was riding my mountain bike today and found these beetle larvae, some kind of ground beetle.  I don't know the species but I know what sp they aren't, they aren't Calosoma scrutator.  That's all I know since I see those a lot.  Anybody have an idea?  I don't remember every seeing larvae like these.  I was going up a hill and saw two cut off from the grass by a curb.  I had to put one in by gps and the other in my radio ..after taking the batteries out.  My hunch is that they prefer soft bodied stuff like caterpillars because they hunt and capture like Calosoma scrutator, that likes caterpillars and have a hard time capturing hard-bodied stuff.


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## beetleman (Oct 20, 2009)

:drool: ooh! awesome! man i love ground beetle larvas,it could colosoma calidum,slightly smaller the scrutator.or it could that other colosoma sp.they are jet black as adults. but ya know w/these it can be alittle tricky w/them, awesome find!:clap: keep them and see what happens


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## osmbr (Oct 20, 2009)

those would be cool to have


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## Galapoheros (Oct 20, 2009)

beetleman said:


> :drool: ooh! awesome! man i love ground beetle larvas,it could colosoma calidum,slightly smaller the scrutator.or it could that other colosoma sp.they are jet black as adults. but ya know w/these it can be alittle tricky w/them, awesome find!:clap: keep them and see what happens


I like'em too.  It'd be a lot cooler if they were 5 inches long though:razz: .  Yeah I plan on keeping them, hoping to see the turn into beetles.  I still don't know what Pasimachus larvae look like:? .


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## zonbonzovi (Oct 20, 2009)

Neato- looks like an H.R Geiger painting come to life.  You'll have to update when it becomes an adult...


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## beetleman (Oct 20, 2009)

Galapoheros said:


> I like'em too.  It'd be a lot cooler if they were 5 inches long though:razz: .  Yeah I plan on keeping them, hoping to see the turn into beetles.  I still don't know what Pasimachus larvae look like:? .


wow if they were 5":drool: yeah that would be cool,i still would love to see a pasimachus larva too,never seen them either,.............i'm gonna have to look into this


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## mitchnast (Oct 21, 2009)

i think it sorta looks like an adult of something closely related to fireflies


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## Galapoheros (Oct 25, 2009)

You're prob thinking of Phengodidae but I know what those look like around here so it's not that, it does have a look similar to that though.  It looks like we are going to find out what species this is.  It made a chamber and has been on it's back for several days.






Here's an extra pic of something I found by a lake crawling on a rock.


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## ZergFront (Oct 25, 2009)

Wow, you have some neat insects there. First time I saw a hellgrammite in a creek I thought I found a new species.  

 Can't tell you what those are.


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## Galapoheros (Oct 30, 2009)

Here it is now, but I still can't tell what species it is.  It does kind of look like a calosoma species but it seems to small:? .


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## Elytra and Antenna (Oct 30, 2009)

It's wingcases are hollow so the beetle will look bigger than the pupa. 
The larvae looks like Calosoma but I don't remember the little tails offhand.


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## Galapoheros (Oct 30, 2009)

OK yeah, I wasn't considering the open space under the wing cases, hmm, well, the only other Calosoma sp I've seen around here are solid black, don't think they are calidum though, I've been looking at pics of those.  The solid black ones around here don't have those greenish dots on the wing cases, not that I remember, just black.


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## beetleman (Oct 30, 2009)

wow, that little sucker is coming along great! it's so interesting to see this:worship:


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## Galapoheros (Nov 4, 2009)

Moving along!, changing color:


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## beetleman (Nov 4, 2009)

:clap: :clap: :clap: :drool: ...............nuff said


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## Galapoheros (Nov 4, 2009)

Haha:razz: .  There is something kind of strange about these.  They have a really nice smell!  They don't smell like the defense smell the adults have.  When I open the containers they are in, there is a strong, perfumey smell there, ..pretty weird!  The smell is like a flower of some kind, something like that:?


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## beetleman (Nov 4, 2009)

exactly! when i raised callidum years back the larvas had that nice smell too very weird,because when they are adults............man that stink!!!


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## Galapoheros (Nov 4, 2009)

It's just as funny for somebody to say, "Yeah, I know what you mean.." .


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## Galapoheros (Nov 5, 2009)

Man!, that was fast.  Here it is.  I may have seen this species running around but I sure don't remember it if I have.  The elytra are smooth, black and shiny, with some natural pitting.


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## beetleman (Nov 6, 2009)

:drool: ooh! freakin awesome.....me want. awesome colosoma sp. that jet black/pitting is very cool:clap:


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## Galapoheros (Nov 6, 2009)

I looked around a little for a pic on the internet but I don't think I saw the sp.


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## beetleman (Nov 6, 2009)

i got some from fransisco torres awhile back,but i'm not sure on the name though,they were colosoma sp.black and that was it,they are awesome,golden pheonix exotica also had them years back,they did'nt know the name either,i wouldn't mind having a few.........hint hint


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## sharpfang (Nov 6, 2009)

*Beetleguise*

WOW! really cool!


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## TomM (Nov 7, 2009)

that thing looks sinister. i definitely want to see that thing feed.


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## ZergFront (Nov 7, 2009)

Wow, cool. Can you post some feeding videos?  

 I love the jet black combined with the slight blue undertones. Will you look for mates for it?


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## Galapoheros (Nov 7, 2009)

Hehe, it's grown, no more growing.  I have that other one, it hasn't transformed yet.  It'd be cool if it was the opposite sex.  I don't think these are real common around here.  I don't think I've seen them but that doesn't mean a whole lot, though I do keep an eye out for the bug stuff.


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## Hisserdude (Apr 20, 2016)

Galapoheros said:


> Man!, that was fast.  Here it is.  I may have seen this species running around but I sure don't remember it if I have.  The elytra are smooth, black and shiny, with some natural pitting.


Yeah yeah I know this is an old thread but I thought I'd say that this beetle is almost certainly a Calosoma macrum, see here: http://bugguide.net/node/view/353149 The blue margins on the pronotum and wings and the slightly pitted but otherwise smooth elytra match perfectly with C.macrum. And it is found in TX. 

EDIT:


Galapoheros said:


> Here's an extra pic of something I found by a lake crawling on a rock.


Oh, and this is a Galerita larva, see here: http://bugguide.net/node/view/352910


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