ID this beetle.

[Malhavoc's]

well anyone

 

[GQ.]

Nice find! That is an Ironclad beetle, Phloeodes pustulosus or possibly P. diabolicus. I have no idea of what their ranges are in California. I have yet to find either one down here in San Diego. What type of habitat did you find it in?

-Gilbert

 

[GQ.]

Now I have a question on the ironclad beetles. Does anyone know if they are still in the genus Phloeodes? The latest book I have, Introduction to California Beetles: Arthur V. Evans and James N. Hogue, lists Phloeodes only once. The book also lists the genus Zopherus under Zopheridae. There is only one picture of a Zopherus and it is upside down. From what I can see in that picture it appears to be what I thought was Phloeodes. The book is not a field guide and so it only broadly mentions the main families that exist in California. I haven't been able to track down any papers online.

Thanks,
Gilbert

ps. Malhavoc's you might want to check out the above mentioned book. It is a great introduction to the world of beetles if you are interested in them.

 

[Malhavoc's]

I found two of them, I believe to be male and female. I have no idea what to do with them. I found them under a huge fallen tree that took a few hours to move, it was partly barried in a sand/really dry soil mixture and they were just sitting there. The only difference between the two is ones a little shorter I threw them in some peat moss they burried and vanished.. I later was talking to someone about trading some local specimens for scorps and Decided to dig them up to take a picture for them. It turned out very wel so I decided to try and get them ID'd. I found them on a bike path leading off Mount Rubidoux

 

[GQ.]

Thanks for the info. They are supposed to be fairly common in association with oak. The only place I have been able to look for them was hit pretty hard by the fires. That may have had a bearing on my poor success. Interestingly, they are said to be so hard that it is difficult to pierce their elytra with a pinning needle.

Later,
Gilbert

 

[Alex S.]

Ironclad beetles are still in the genus Phloeodes. They are in the subfamily Zopherinae, a subfamily on the Tenebrionidae (darkling beetles).

Alex S.

 

[Malhavoc's]

Very intresting, what should I feed them as gathering a piece of the fallen stump [wich was not oa suprisingly but some other tree.. I'll go gather a sample of the leaf to bring back and photograph] would be very difficult..

 

[Malhavoc's]

Also now that I think of it, almsot al lthe logs I turned over had wholes borred into them with sawdust/waste matter on ground underneath the whole [the wholes always came into up from underneath the log as if something crawled under them then borred up through the wood. Especialy the one I found the two beetles in.

 

[GQ.]

Thanks Alex. I haven't been able to find a whole lot of concrete info on Phloeodes. I did read a vague reference to Zopherus/ironclad beetle classifications being changed which is why I asked. It is my curse that the less I know about something the more obsessed I become with learning more about it.

Malhavoc's,

I've had a tough time finding anything on Phloeodes. I did turn up a website that mentioned they are thought to feed on decaying and fungus ridden logs. I don't know what species of wood they prefer, but the log you found them under is probably a safe bet. You might want to take some rotten pieces of that log to feed to them. I'd even be tempted to place a few pieces of those logs into a large Rubbermaid container to see what type of beetles emerge from them. Good luck!

Gilbert

 

[Malhavoc's]

I dont think I can fit a tree trunk into a rubber maid container.. i weighed a good three hundred pounds+ and was very obscure to move.. lol.. And its not decomposed enough that I can just remove a sample of this very hard wood without a saw or blade of some kind..

 

[Alex S.]

Thanks Alex. I haven't been able to find a whole lot of concrete info on Phloeodes. I did read a vague reference to Zopherus/ironclad beetle classifications being changed which is why I asked. It is my curse that the less I know about something the more obsessed I become with learning more about it.

No problem, GQ. Although they are also classified under the family Colydiidae as well.

Alex S.