ANOTHER RARE BEETLE ADDED TO THE VIRGINIA FAUNA

By Arthur V. Evans

While sorting through some spring Malaise trap samples from the Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, I came across a single specimen of a soldier beetle-like insect five millimeters in length that was unfamiliar to me. It resembled a drawing that I had seen in Blatchley (1910) of Blanchardia gracilis (now Blatchleya gracilis: Omethidae).

I ran the specimen through the omethid key American Beetles (2002) and determined it to be Omethes marginatus LeConte. The specimen compares perfectly to LeConte’s type in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University and represents a new species AND family record for Virginia. Omethes marginatus was previously known from Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; additional new state records include Arkansas and Indiana. Omethids of any stripe are rare in collections and little is known about their natural history.

References

Arnett, R.H., Jr., M.C. Thomas, P.E. Skelley, J.H. Frank, editors. 2002. Volume 2. American Beetles. Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL.

Blatchley, W. 1910. An illustrated descriptive catalogue of the Coleoptera or beetles (exclusive of the Rhynchophora) known to occur in Indiana. With bibliography and descriptions of new species. Indianapolis, IN.

 

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