Flour Beetle
S2, iso-view
Flour Beetle
S2, anterior
| Flour Beetle S2, iso-view | | Flour Beetle S2, anterior | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Beetles (Coleoptera) | ||||
| Family: | Darkling Beetle (Tenebrionidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Flour Beetle (Tribolium cf sp) | ||||
| This Photo: | S2, profile, under | ||||
Thank you Mark Hura for identifying and Karen Weaving for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere ~3 to ~3.5mm long. Mark id'ed this to a Darkling Beele (Tenebrionidae family), and said "Looks like Tribolium sp. - common pests in grain/flour etc. I'm not that familiar with the tribe" When we then looked into it, at first it seemed like an exact match. We thought the "dozer" like face would be quite unique, but we discovered a number of tribes exhibit this feature. Species such as Lorelus pubipennis look similar, along with members of the tribe Cnemeplatiini. So with-out microscopic inspection & possibly dissection we aren't able to be sure of this id. Without an exact id, it's also hard to be confident of it's origins/native status. Possibly native to the region; or a regional introduction from wetter environs. | |||||
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