CLOSED: Hister Quadrimaculatus?

I think this is correct as Hister quadrimaculatus Family Histeridae from the information I have found.

http://www.koleopterologie.de/gallery/FHL03/hister-quadrimaculatus-foto-rodenkirchen.html

http://www.koleopterologie.de/gallery/FHL03/fhl03.html

The delta-intkey has a description which states in the Obs. at the bottom, the lunule on the elytra is sometimes divided and at times it vanishes altogether. As mine has four spots, and the species name quadrimaculatus meaning four marks, I think it has to be this one.

http://delta-intkey.com/britin/images/text470.gif

http://delta-intkey.com/britin/col/www/histerid.htm

http://aolsearch.aol.co.uk/aol/image?query=Hister+QUADRIMACULATUS&page=2&userid=-4040884882562910128&invocationType=imageTab&clickstreamid=864712637972537977

I am a bit unsure about this one. None of the images I could find match yours. I did wonder about Hister quadrinotatus, based on this display: http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~stueber/reitter2/high/tafel66.html

Ken

That one passed me by although I checked the site out, forgot to include it. Perhaps because the koleopterologie.de site had a good representation of Hister quadrimaculatus, and......

The delta-intkey site mentions:

"British representation: Genera 22; 49 species. E.g., Dendrophilus pygmaeus; Hister quadrimaculatus (Lunar-spotted Mimic-beetle); Onthophilus punctatus. "

Only a small handful of the 22 genera and 49 species shown there, but Hister quadrimaculatus is one of them.

One more point which has sprung to mind is the placing of the spots, mine being towards the edges where the lower pair of spots on Hister quadrinotatus are placed towards the centre. This may be another variable but on balance, considering the evidence, I am leaning strongly towards Hister quadrimaculatus.

A google on the www for Hister quadrinotatus brings up a rash of Continental European sites but none for Britain.

http://aolsearch.aol.co.uk/aol/searchinvocationType=topsearchbox.webhome&query=Hister+quadrinotatus&cr=&lr=

In fact it looks to be very localised, with only 3 locations noted from 1975 but the site date is 2006.

http://www.entomologie.de/hamburg/karten/fhl_03/_hisqua2.htm

For some strange reason the smae site shows no records for Hister quadrimaculatus for the same regions.

http://www.entomologie.de/hamburg/karten/fhl_03/_hisqua1.htm

Where the other Histers listed do have a reasonable representation,

http://www.entomologie.de/hamburg/karten/fhl_03/fhl_03.html

A few pics of Hister quadrimaculatus on the French site showing variations, none of Hister quadrinotatus

http://www.galerie-insecte.org/galerie/hister_quadrimaculatus.html

http://www.galerie-insecte.org/systematique/index.php?liste=ListeColeo&seq=75

A UK only google search for Hister quadrinotatus brought up only one page with no mention of it,

http://aolsearch.aol.co.uk/aol/search?invocationType=topsearchbox.search&query=Hister+quadrinotatus&cr=countryUK&lr=

A search for 'Hister species Britain' brought up a list including only Hister quadrimaculatus

http://www.english-nature.org.uk/livingwiththesea/project_details/good_practice_guide/shingleCRR/ShingleGuide/TheHabitat/Inverts/InvertsDryHabitats.htm

but little else

http://aolsearch.aol.co.uk/aol/search?invocationType=topsearchbox.search&query=%27Hister+species+Britain%27&cr=countryUK&lr=

A www search brought up this list of beetles recorded in Britain, they are both there but only Hister quadrimaculatus has a link to a picture.

http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-beetle-species-recorded-in-britain

I found a page with Hister beetle links, before I loose this I will post

http://plantpath.wisc.edu/~young/hbhomage/links.html

http://aolsearch.aol.co.uk/aol/search?invocationType=topsearchbox.search&query=%27Hister+species+Britain%27&cr=&lr=

I am so excited! I have hit the nail on the head!

Here goes, I went to the 'British Isles' link on the Hister beetle links page above, found this,

http://www.coleopterist.org.uk/histeridae-list.htm

Where there was stated on the answers.com 4 species of Hister beetle of which only these two it could be, I found on the coleopterist.org site a little number 8 next to Hister quadrinotatus, that number in the key states:

"8 Former resident native, extinct; early 19th-Century records from Bristol and near London."

Sooooooooooo, it has to be Hister quadrimaculatus. Yahoooooooooo!

Ken, I have added it to BF, we need a pic on the Families page.

Ken, I think I jumped the gun.

I was checking out another family and found a Rumanian page of beetle families of Russia of all things. Anyway, the Family Nitidulidae looked to be a contender.

I checked this out on the delta-intkey site and found the correct one, spot on.

Glischrochilus quadripunctatus

http://delta-intkey.com/britin/images/bent306.jpg

http://delta-intkey.com/britin/col/www/nitiduli.htm

Families

http://www.zin.ru/Animalia/Coleoptera/eng/all_fama.htm

My apologies for being so eager! Now I'm going to have to ask you to remove my entry from the Histeridae.

Looking at the delta-intkey drawing it does look correct, but when I look at actual pictures the abdomen section looks to be too long on Glischrochilus quadripunctatus.

http://popgen.unimaas.nl/~jlindsey/commanster/Insects/Beetles/SpBeetles/Glischrochilus.quadripunctatus.html

http://www.fugleognatur.dk/gallery.asp?mode=ShowLarge&ID=18232

http://aolsearch.aol.co.uk/aol/image?invocationType=topsearchbox.image&query=Glischrochilus+quadripunctatus

Now I am really confused!

I found another, Glischrochilus hortensis which also looks similar, but the thorax looks too short and the antennae are dark where mine looks plaer.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Glischrochilus_hortensis01.jpg

http://users.skynet.be/fa213618/Glischrochilus%20hortensis.htm

Perhaps I have a Hister quadrimaculatus after all, the Grischrochilus all look to be the wrong proportion thorax to abdomen, which is what I thought when I first found the family but the drawing looked right.

Janet

You have researched this one very well, but there are of course so many beetles to discover.

I feel strongly that you are right in discarding Hister quadrimaculatus. I was never happy with that choice. In particular, the antennae looked wrong for all of that family.

I am leaning strongly towards your last selection of Glischrochilus hortensis. I don't see a big difference in the proprtions of thorax and abdomen from your individual and thec olouring and positioning of the yellow spots seem to me a perfect match.

I have deleted your images and comment from Hister quadrimaculatus, but have left the entry in the database (maybe you will find one one day).

The Nitidulidae is represented in BugFiles, but without an image so far, so we can use one of your images to illustrate the family, should you finally settle on the species,

Ken

Ken, I think I will go with Glischrochilus hortensis, looking at this pic I can even see the foot end of the leg is yellowish which is visible on mine. It does look a pretty good match.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Glischrochilus_hortensis01.jpg

What a learning experience this is! I like that Rumanina site with the Families, a good aid for ID.

Thanks, I will add the pics.

Entry is complete,

http://davesgarden.com/bf/b/Coleoptera/Nitidulidae/none/none/genus/0/

I called it a Sap beetle as on this site, don't know if I should have put a different common name.

http://www.kristvi.net/biller/glischrochilus_hortensis.htm

Thanks Janet, I have now used one of your images to illustrate Nitidulidae in the index. Great to get another gap in the index filled,

Ken

Ken, I got some better pics of this today, thought I would meniton it if you want to change the pic in the gallery.

A good side view, and I got one with its wings spread from behind! I just snapped as it shot, and it went quickly so it was lucky.

http://davesgarden.com/bf/go/4811/

Thanks Janet, I have changed the index picture to your new side view image. The one with the wings spread is a great photo, but not the view that best illustrates the family,

Ken