Please identify this larvae for me

[Maldrac]

Any body any idea what this larvae could be:

about 5 millimeters long
pastel orange in color with paler orange between segments
head dark brown ro black
location Hertfordshire, in a bathroom (no plants in bathroom)
likes to find cracks to hide in
moves pretty fast for a larvae

The best I can researh it as is the Red Lily Beetle but this seems too orange, the larvae is meant to be a muddy orange?

picture follows



Sorry for the poor quality but it moves to fast to focus on

[Dogghound]

Im afraid you will need a closer shot to get any chance of an ID. Looks like coleoptera larva of some description.

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Im afraid you will need a closer shot to get any chance of an ID. Looks like coleoptera larva of some description.

I agree - moving quickly it could be a ground/rove beetle larva .... or other things! Not lily beetle for sure.

[Maldrac]

A slightly better picture taken in natural light, my FujiFilm M603 is not very good and macro images need to get a better camera.

[Dogghound]

I agree with paul, its on of the Carabidae or staphylinidae. But not sure which species. Looks more like a staph out of the two.

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

I agree with paul, its on of the Carabidae or staphylinidae. But not sure which species. Looks more like a staph out of the two.

Yes, I would think a staph but wouldn't like to be definitive even on a high-power - even if it were an 'adult'! Has an air of Othius sp but could be a Philonthus or many, many more .....

[Maldrac]

Thanks for your help, was finding it hard to track down. All the sites on beetles seem to only have pictures of the adults, I don't presume there is a definative repository of all British beetle photos with their different life cycle stages anywhere out there?

[poschiavanus]

Originally Posted by Maldrac

Thanks for your help, was finding it hard to track down. All the sites on beetles seem to only have pictures of the adults, I don't presume there is a definative repository of all British beetle photos with their different life cycle stages anywhere out there?

Not a chance!

By far the best bet for photos of larvae is Coleoptera - photo gallery beetles - Fotogalerie Käfer and this is woefully incomplete. The German language work "Die Käfer Mitteleuropas" has 6 volumes on Coleopteran larvae compared with 11 with 4 supplementary volumes for the adults. This gives a reasonable idea of how many larvae are unknown or poorly described.

Obviously this doesn't help!

poschiavanus

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by poschiavanus

Not a chance!

By far the best bet for photos of larvae is Coleoptera - photo gallery beetles - Fotogalerie Käfer and this is woefully incomplete. The German language work "Die Käfer Mitteleuropas" has 6 volumes on Coleopteran larvae compared with 11 with 4 supplementary volumes for the adults. This gives a reasonable idea of how many larvae are unknown or poorly described.

Obviously this doesn't help!

poschiavanus

Likewise, Luff published a key to the larvae of NW European carabids but you would need to have far more information than is present on your (or any) photograph to identify them. Staphylinidae (as I think these are) do not even have an up-to-date key to the adults/imagines

But don't give up your interest - some beetles are easier.

[poschiavanus]

Paul is quite right! I was far too gloomy and did not reflect that I might have disheartened you.

There are beetle families where its much easier to get to species: ladybirds and leaf beetles come to mind. They also have their own fascinating behaviours which are well worth watching: for instance, ladybirds searching for aphids on a leaf, or attacking another ladybird pupa; tortoise beetle larvae (Cassida sp) camouflaged with little piles of their own excrement on their backs, and so on.

I think there are keys available to assign a beetle larva to family, but I couldn't find if there was a current one in English. Perhaps someone else can help.

poschiavanus