Found these two handsome beetles in a grassy lawn - larger one is 35mm, smaller one is 30mm. After doing some research and photo comparisons I believe them to be Oil beetles in the Meloe group; includes 22 species. Strigulosus would be my guess - can you verify? Very interesting life cycle too. Thank you.
rachelleann
I agree that these are Oil Beetles of the genus Meloe, but with 22 species in that genus, I doubt it is possible to identify the species from your photographs. One would need access to a key and probably microscopic examination of a specimen to determine the species. I would declare them simply as Meloe sp..
Ken
