Staphylinidae Oxyporus rufus?

[JRsbugs]

Hi,

This looks correct to me, but I thought confirmation or otherwise would be good! 13th June. 9-10mm

Janet

[Klaas Reißmann]

Dear Janet,

it is correct.

Regards
Klaas

[JRsbugs]

Thank you Klaas.

I noticed Christoph doesn't have this one on his site.. are they not very common?

[Klaas Reißmann]

Hi Janet,

these beetles are not very common. I found a few in my life (three or four - have to take a look at my datas), but just in one year and before and after never again. They need funghus and I guess one would find them more often by searching in funghus and maybe more by surching in some species of funghus this beetle possibly prefers. Staphylinidae are not the family I have my focus on and even Christoph is doing them only, when he finds somewhat he possibly can determine.

Regards
Klaas

[JRsbugs]

That's interesting Klaas, this is the first year I have seen it but I haven't been looking for as long as you. I got it on the 19th of May as well but it wasn't as good a pic, they move fast!

I do have some fungus, last year I left my meadow grass 'lawn' to do it's own thing so maybe that's why I got it, I had lots of Puffball fungus but also others. I wonder if they have a preference. Having a wildlife garden brings rewards!

I guess it's no good offering Christoph the use of my pic? I think he only puts what he finds on the site giving the locations also. One of the pics is almost up to his standard.

I checked the distribution on NBN Gateway here, the records don't reflect all locations and you will see the area I live in Lincolnshire is nearly devoid of anything. There are records not too far away around Nottinghamshire, I'm not far from the border and I'm certain insects and inverts. know that.

NBN Gateway - interactive species mapper

[Klaas Reißmann]

Hi Janet,

for his pages of beetles Christoph only uses photos of beetles he found and photos he took by himself. It is different for his topics. For a good topic you need good photos to make it interresting and readable. And because he can't have photos of everything he likes writing about or for every report written by me, he is willing to take photos of other people, like he took for his ladybirds topic. So photos are welcome for his topics, but only for these.

The other thing is, that Christoph wants to show the beetles of Germany and if he can take a picture of a species living in Germany, but he didn't find in Germany it is going to be difficult. You see, it is not easy.

Oxyporus is not that easy to say. O. rufus is given as being common, O. maxillosus as a little more rare than O. rufus. So they don't seem to be seldom, but maybe they are seldom found "by mistake". Literature tells about O. rufus being on "Blätterpilze" (kind of mushroom). I can only find "agaric" as translation, which could be right, because scientific name is Agaricales. O. maxillosus is reported being on "Hutpilze" and I could not find anything as translation for it, but it is family Agaricomycetidae.

Maybe that helps a little further.

Regards
Klaas

[JRsbugs]

Thanks Klaas..

It has helped, I found there are Oxyporus fungi so it probably feeds on a species in the genus.

Mushroom Observer: Observations Matching ‘Oxyporus’

Cybernome

I think there's Oxyporus latemarginatus about, plenty of rotting wood with all sorts growing on it so there's probably other species. I wonder if it's species specific

Mushroom Observer: Image: Oxyporus latemarginatus (89098)

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by JRsbugs

Thanks Klaas..

It has helped, I found there are Oxyporus fungi so it probably feeds on a species in the genus.

Mushroom Observer: Observations Matching ‘Oxyporus’

Cybernome

I think there's Oxyporus latemarginatus about, plenty of rotting wood with all sorts growing on it so there's probably other species. I wonder if it's species specific

Mushroom Observer: Image: Oxyporus latemarginatus (89098)

hello Janet

if a mycologist may be allowed to stick his nose in here . . . . it doesn't work like that; although technically fungi are closer to insects than they are to plants they are classified along historical lines and therefore they are treated under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature; names only have to be unique within the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, or within the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature; it is permitted for a 'plant' genus and an animal genus to share the same name.

So Oxyporus the fungus has no relationship to Oxyporus the beetle; in a similar way Prunella the dunnock/hedge sparrow (accentor family) and Prunella the plant selfheal, and Oenanthe (wheatears) and Oenanthe (water-dropworts, parsley family) have nothing in common other than being (permitted) homonyms. Another example, more appropriate for this forum, would be Pieris the familiar 'white' butterflies and the plant Pieris often grown in gardens.

You might be interested in this thread I've just started, triggered by a find of Oxporus rufus in Yorkshire: Fungus - Insect interactions

best wishes

Chris

[Jason Claxton]

An internet latin dictionary lists two meanings for oxyporus.
Quickly passing and also easily digested,I'm hoping in this sense this beetle is quickly passing,in that it has a short life span,or is fast and not because it is easily digested.

Jason.

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by Jason Claxton

An internet latin dictionary lists two meanings for oxyporus.
Quickly passing and also easily digested,I'm hoping in this sense this beetle is quickly passing,in that it has a short life span,or is fast and not because it is easily digested.

Jason.

I think that with regard to the fungus, 'porus' is a suffix used for many genera of polypores and that "Oxyporus" actually means 'sharp-tasting polypore'; dunno about the beetle though

isn't "Oxyporus" Greek rather than Latin? 'oxy' certainly is . . . . probably Latinized Greek

cheers

Chris