What kind of beetle did I see?

[Amoeba]

This photo is not mine and is just for comparison - it is not the exact beetle I saw

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tydryYyxSy...0/IMG_2568.JPG

It looked just like this except it had white bits on its head (couldn't tell if it was antennae). The spikiness on its legs was also less pronounced in the beetle I saw than in the beetle in the photo. However, colour everywhere else and shape was pretty exact.

It was about 2.5 cm long. Really big! On a pavement on a road bridge above a canal in an urban setting. Waddling slowly.

[Amoeba]

No answer?

[aeshna5]

The beetle in the photo is a Dor Beetle, Geotrupes sp, but can't say what yours was!

[Amoeba]

Thanks aeshna5.

Nobody else has any ideas about the one I saw?

[Jason Claxton]

Maybe a female Minotaur beetle,but I wouldn't say they were massive,also Nicrophorus humator a possibilty but the antennae are more orange tipped than white.I can't really say for sure Amoeba.

Cheers Jason.

[Tobyh]

Any chance it could be this - ? it was quite large, certainly larger than a Dor.



(an early picture of mine)

TobyH

[Amoeba]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, much appreciated! But no matches so far.

Nicrophorus humator looks like the closest match head-wise, but its head is still quite different, and the body shape is still more like the picture in the link in the OP. If it helps, the head reminded me of the head of a ladybird when I saw it.

So it didn't have any visible or noticeable pincers like a stag beetle does or anything - quite a small head.

[Paul mabbott]

Just to add a little more confusion ..... I think that the picture you linked is a female Typhaeus typhoeus not a Geotrupes sp: the forebody is narrower and less rounded than a dor beetle. Because you say that the 'head reminded me ..... of a ladybird', I assume that your specimen was domed and therefore was a dor beetle: at that size most likely Geotrupes spiniger or G. stercorarius.
Maybe.

Originally Posted by Amoeba

............
Nicrophorus humator looks like the closest match head-wise, but its head is still quite different, and the body shape is still more like the picture in the link in the OP. If it helps, the head reminded me of the head of a ladybird when I saw it.

So it didn't have any visible or noticeable pincers like a stag beetle does or anything - quite a small head.

[Amoeba]

Ah yes, thanks, I'm looking at pictures of dor beetles now and they look much more similar to the one I spotted. Still a bit mystified by the white spots I saw on the head (much like the ladybird) could they be down to genetic variation?