Long beetle with yellow spots on elytra

[Bruce Williams]

Stony Stratford, Bucks.

On fence beneath willow, ash and sycamore. Interesting that the elytra are so much shorter than the wings?

Help with identification appreciated:



Bruce

[Jason Green]

Evening Bruce,

This is a Soldier Beetle, Cantharidae. It is likely Malthodes minimus/fuscus, can be difficult sub-group.

Certainly agree with the note on elytral coverage; a number of Cantharids seem to have quite thin and unprotective wing-cases.

Take care,

Jason

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks Jason. I should have mentioned - this beetle is ~4.75mm long - I don't know if this helps narrow things down?

Bruce

[Bobbobthebob]

There's a provisional key to the species in the Cantharoidea (which includes the Malthodes genus) here: http://www.wildlifebcnp.org/document...daeKeys_v3.pdf which you might want to check out.

Going through it, I ended up on Malthodes minimus. The last step separating it from M. fuscus was based upon the pronotum colouration which isn't necessarily a definitive way of doing it.

[Bruce Williams]

Bob - Thanks for the link (now added to my Favourites) and your analysis.

Bruce

[Klaas Reißmann]

Good evening,

Jason is very brave in identificating this down to the species.

I can't tell if he is wrong or not. I'm not to much into the genus Malthodes and out of my view it could be even genus Malthinus. For both very often a dissection of the genitalia is needed. So far no more comment from my side.

Regards
Klaas

[Jason Green]

Originally Posted by Klaas Reißmann

Jason is very brave in identificating this down to the species.

At least in England, they say there is a fine line separating bravery from stupidity. In my case it's the latter! Having looked at the British documentation I was errant in going further on the basis of this image.

[Bruce Williams]

Klaas - Thanks for your advise - as suggested I'll take a cautious position when identifying this one.

Bruce

[Klaas Reißmann]

Hi Jason,

you shouldn't be this negative to yourself. Malthodes and Malthinus is difficult, but it is possible to separate Malthodes from Malthinus by photos, I just didn't get it yet, but it is not unimpossible you got it. Why not. Malthinus is a "small" genus of just nine species and there is o possibility to separate some species and identify them down to the species by good pictures. I just don't know the characters and what it must look like. You can be right if you saw, what I can't see with my little knowledge yet.

And I don't think it has got anything to do with stupidity. In the moment you wrote it, it seemed right and so it was right. And even if it is wrong (nobody knows yet) you have been right in this moment.

Regards
Klaas