rove beetles – Brennah's Backyard

Tiny Beetles

Here are some tiny rove beetles I found the other day that push the limits of my current macro lens. In the first three pictures you can kind of see how the wings are folded up under the elytra (the shell-like covering of the wings of beetles, which rove beetles have considerably less of than most other beetles). In the last two pictures the wings are completely unfolded. I know the wings are pretty thin, but it is still impressive to me that they can just fold up their wings and put them away.

rove beetle (staphylinidae) — Rove beetle perched on what is probably a sparrow dropping

Platydracus Maculosus Rove Beetle

I took these pictures of a spotted rove beetle (platydracus maculosus) at the beginning of this month, but I saw what I think may have been the same (individual) beetle again yesterday. My main reason for thinking that is that I found it in exactly the same spot as last time.

Rove beetles don’t seem to be very well known and it wasn’t easy finding any information that was specific to this species. I found out about them when this spring’s flooding drove them out of their usual cover, and now I seem to be keyed in to them because they’re very unique looking and I find them cute.

Spring Flooding (part 2)

As I was wading around our land taking pictures of the flooding, I started to notice a lot of little creatures taking refuge from all the water…

Ants, a jumping spider and a snail — Some ants, a jumping spider, and a snail on a blade of grass

Garter snake up on our wood pile, out of the water

In this clump of grass sticking out of the water, there were hundreds of pillbugs and sowbugs clustered there to escape the flood. Pillbugs and sowbugs are crustaceans (like crayfish and lobsters). They are the only crustacean families that have adapted to live on land… making it a bit ironic to see them all fleeing the flood.

Pillbugs — A couple of pillbugs on a blade of grass

Rove beetle and another insect — A rove beetle and another insect (I’m not sure what at this angle)

Rove beetles, other beetles — A variety of small creatures on a dried stalk of grass

Pillbugs, sowbugs and a millipede — This is another case of my noticing something after the fact… I did not see the millipede when I was taking this photo!

Spider standing on water — Spiders are the show offs, as they can run around on the surface of the water. They look like they are running on a super slippery surface, and they probably prefer having something solid to stand on.

Ants and beetle — Three ants and a beetle

Cluster of ants — A clump of ants clinging to a twig