Woodland beetles got me stumped

[Geoff F]

Trying to 'tidy up' my backlog of unidentified creatures for May. These beetles are all from the same mature S. Devon wood. Mostly oak and chestnut.

I thought I could manage to ID these myself but have run into some 'technical problems'.

Thought this is Pterostichus sp. but can't match up the antennae and leg colours to go any further.


Thinking about an Oil Beetle here but after checking the Meloe species I am still unsuccessful with the 'tail' shape and the closed up elytra, but is it a male/female difference?


This one reminds me of the Cantharidae family; but there are so many possibilities here.


I was intending to start some more extensive research soon but was hoping that one of the beetle specialists could save me a bit of time and narrow down the field a bit.

And after these, I will start on the flies!

[Dogghound]

2 looks like a Philonthus sp
3 is a female Rhagonycha lignosa

[oxycera]

without thinking too much (I believe there's a football match starting in 15 mins) it could be a Nebria sp.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for that. I've narrowed the Philonthus down to 4 possibilities so I think it will have to be Philonthus sp. The Nebria looks most likely to be N. brevicollis.

But I'm still unsure about No. 3, This beetle has the elytra shorter than the black abdomen which is showing beyond the elytra. All the examples of Rhagonycha lignosa that I have found so far have the abdomen covered by the elytra. So is it a male/female difference and all the specimens that I have encountered are males, or do I still have more research to do here?

[Dogghound]

I think you may be seeing males, females usually have more enlarged abdomens. Also males tend to have larger eyes. Another problem with this sort of thing is how the beetle is holding its wings this can often be very misleading.

[Geoff F]

That is probably the answer then, thanks.

I've checked a good selection of web sites but couldn't find a matching image. Otherwise everything fitted together.