Beetle ID Help Please

[silverfish]

Just had this identified on iSpot by Mark Telfer.

It's a pill-beetle (Byrrhus, probably B. pilula). Looks different to the average Byrrhus as it has lost most of its hairs!

[Klaas Reißmann]

Hi everybody,

it's a difficult one, because of the unusual angel. But at least it is right that this is genus Byrrhus. You can see very well in the tibia (flattend, only a few hairs but no thorns) and a few more details (a thick first limb in the antennae and the rest much smaller (you can't see well, but with a bit imagination you can) and at least the tip of the elytra).

But you can't tell more than the genus. Could be Byrrhus pilula, can be B. fasciatus. I don't think it is B. luniger, which is almost without hairs and/or scales, because of the rest of scales in the last third of the elytra and the rest at the basis of the pronotum.

The 10-15 mm in recall are the normal estimated data for a species of the size a bit less than 1 cm (Byrrhus pilula up to 9,3 mm, Byrrhus fasciatus up to 8 mm). The description of the habitat makes it more a Byrrhus pilula than a Byrrhus fasciatus. If the ground is not sandy I would name it Byrrhus cf. pilula. If the ground was sandy than I can't decide whether it is B. pilula nor its B. fasciatus.

Regards
Klaas

Edit: I forgot to say, that family Tenebrionidae was my first thought,too. But it didn't really fit.

[silverfish]

Hi Klaas,

Many thanks for your thorough explanation, it is much appreciated.

The garden soil is quite sandy.

Regards,
David