Flying insect for ID

[sbb]

Hi,
Had an unwanted visitor this evening, competely black, winged, beetle like and more than an inch long, it flew in to the kitchen and sat on the light fitting. I managed to get a lader and photograph it and to my horror realised its back was alive with little amber coloured mites which I assumed were its off-spring, uuurrggghhh.
I am new to the site and haven't quite worked out the procedure for uploading photos, but will hopefully get some up soon.
Any ideas what it could be?
sbb

[sbb]

2009_0716bug0004.jpg
2009_0716bug0005.jpg
2009_0716bug0006.jpg

Think I have now managed to upload the photo's of the aforementioned bug!
sbb



Or is that how you do it?

[Jason Green]

Hi SBB, and welcome to WAB!

It's a beetle of some description, it looks like one of our Chafers, which are known for their size and coming in at night, attracted to lights! They are indeed mites on it's back, as opposed to offspring.

[Ferret]

I think the Beetle, for that is what it is, is a Cockchafer or related species, the little things crawling on it are not its young but Mites, a very heavy infestation. All Beetles undergo a full metamorphosis, as do Butterflies and Moths, the young of this species live as white grub that feeds below ground on the roots of plants, after several years they will reach several centimetres in length and then pupate from this pupae the adult beetles will emerge, normally in the spring, so this one is quite late in the season, perhaps that it is why it has such a heavy load of mites.

Ferret

[Gerel]

Going on what little of the beetle can be seen under all those mites I would guess, mainly from the size and the orange/yellow tips to the antennae, that it could be the burying beetle Necrophorus humator. The mites aren't its young but an entirely seperate species that hitch hike around on this and other beetles and may also be parasitic on them.

[Wild-Woman]

Incredible. Only seen another species as infected with mite to this extent a couple of times and they were Bumble bees.
Think Paul M might be interested in this one, being a Beetle man.

[sbb]

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to reply and for such a warm welcome!.
Having looked at images available on the internet I'm inclined to think that Gerel is correct and that it is a Necrophorus humator, have seen Cockchafers before and this beetle was entirely black.
Fascinating about the mites, I wasn't aware that this relationship existed.
Thanks again, I'm sure i will be a regular in the site as I live in rural west wales and often encounter wildlife that I cannot identify!
sbb

[Jonners]

When I was a boy, the dad of a friend of mine was doing some research into the mites that live on Dung Beetles (he worked in one of the labs or zoology dept somewhere in Cambridge). So my friend and I went out collecting dung beetles that had mites on them, which was quite a lot. We arrived back at mine, but forgot that our lunch box was now crawling with dung beetles instead. We only remembered when we heard the shrieks from the kitchen as my big sister took the lid off to wash it up. Fortunately the beetles escaped unscathed, although whether my sister still carries the emotional scars, I wouldn't like to say . I never did find out what the research was all about, but thought I would share the story anyway.