Cantharidae in the Gallery

[Pudding4brains]

Howdy,

As I was just trying to clean up my Cantharidae images and browsing the Gallery looking for comparison shots I got a little more confused than I already was about those.

I don't own a key, and was basically just comparing images and some info I found on the net, so all very iffy (!), but as the "View Forum Posts That Include This Image" links with most/all images comes up empty I thought I'd double check a few here.

Note: NONE of the following images are mine, so these are ALL (c) copyright by their respective authors!

(c) Black
Listed as C. cryptica - I would suspect it to be livida??

(c) welsh.lensman
Listed as C. livida - I would suspect it to be rufa (or maybe?! cryptica???)

(c) Fourwings
Listed as C. rustica - I would suspect it to be pellucida (or maybe?! thoracica or the black form of livida???)

Thanks in advance for your opinions and your patience with my feeble first Cantharis-steps

Cheers, Arp

[Bruce Williams]

Interesting Arp.

I'd be interested to know what you're currently using to id them (in the absence of a key) - so I could use it myself. Hmmmmm why have I got a feeling it'll be a mix of Dutch, German and French language websites (hard work for me).

Bruce

[Dogghound]

These are one of my favourite groups.

The photo's are : -

1.Cantharis livida
2.Cantharis rufa
3.Cantharis pellucida

[Paul mabbott]

I use the reprint of the Practical Handbook of British Beetles (Joy) which is a reasonable key if one also uses New British Beetles by Hodge and Jones to check nomenclature and additions to the list. Then I look at pictures on Coleoptera - photo gallery beetles - Fotogalerie Käfer

[Bruce Williams]

Great link - thanks Paul - straight into my "Favorites".

Bruce

[Paul mabbott]

I've said it before but ...
Cantharis sp are differentiated by colours and patterns of elytra, thorax, head, legs and size in some cases. With many insects it is critically important to give an indication of size!

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by Bruce Williams

Great link - thanks Paul - straight into my "Favorites".

Bruce

There is a companion site on true bugs (Hemiptera:Heteroptera) which is not yet as comprehensive - Heteroptera - Bug Photo Gallery - Foto Galerie Wanzen

I always stress that we need to be very careful with continental sites because there are many species on these which are not (yet, at least) found on the British Isles. The same, of course applies to non-European sites - we have had people thinking they've found American species!

[Paul mabbott]

A final point (sorry for putting these in separate threads but they are different issues and I'd like to keep them as separate discussions!) is that these wrongly identified pictures were presumably not referred to the forum for identification/confirmation. How many more wrongly identified images are there in the Gallery?

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

A final point (sorry for putting these in separate threads but they are different issues and I'd like to keep them as separate discussions!) is that these wrongly identified pictures were presumably not referred to the forum for identification/confirmation. How many more wrongly identified images are there in the Gallery?

Ive noticed quite afew

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Ive noticed quite afew

I just don't have the time to go through the Gallery but thought I'd have a quick scan. The second beetle I came to: is wrong - there are similarities with the Pyrochroa spp but these have red forebodies apart from anything else.
Eucera has almost got it right - it's Pyropterus - but there has been no amendment.
A by-the-way: these genera live in very different places so some indication of location and habitat would have been another clue.