Red-winged Rove Beetle
S1, Abdomen
Ellura
Devil's Coach-horse Beetle
S3, Dorsal, black
 
                      
Devil's Coach-horse Beetle (Creophilus erythrocephalus)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Beetles (Coleoptera)
Family: Rove Beetle (Staphylinidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Devil's Coach-horse Beetle (Creophilus erythrocephalus)
This Photo:     🔍S1, Dorsal, blue🔎
Other names: Rove Beetle, Devil's footman, Devil's coachman or Devil's steed

Thank you David (DMail) & Gordon Claridge for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
Variable in size, ~12 to ~17mm. While found around carrion (and toilets), they feed on fly larvae on dead animals.
In South Australia, the size of the centre spot on the face is a good guide, as only the two Creophilus species (C. erythrocephalus & C. lanos) have been recorded here.
Lorenzo Locati said "certainty of species ID comes from terminal segment, orange in lanio, black in erythocephalus".
Vik Dunis says of C. erythrocephalus "
Head spot: Circular, sharp edged.
Elytra: Metallic-blue Tint
Terminal Abdominal Segment: Black"
Generally the Elytra colour is VERY difficult to pick up in photo's due to the poor colour depth of most commercial cameras. We've highlighted this with 3 different colours (blue, black & green) with 2 different specimens and 2 different cameras.

Copyright © 2015-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 17-Aug-2015
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.