Bug Identification with better pictures

[Tom29]

As per the attached a couple of these have been found on one of my white pines, about 3-5mm long.

Any ideas what they are?

 

[StarGazer]

Hi @Tom29. It is still hard to tell from picture since the beetle is so small, and because beetles of some genera are hard to identify.

This it seems to be Malthodes Lobatus.

First described in UK in 2003:
https://www.coleoptera.org.uk/species/malthodes-lobatus.

Some Malthodes, but not all, are saproxylic meaning that they only feed on dead wood.

If you can collect one of the beetles unharmed, or undamaged, and contact a local entomologist for proper identification.
I think there is interest in this species because there are few observations documented in the uk.

http://dartington.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Dartington-Report-on-beetles-2017.pdf

You should contact Max Barclay at the natural history museum, curator of the beetle collection, as he identified the first specimen, you can contacting by following the link below.

Max Barclay | Natural History Museum

Senior Curator in Charge, Coleoptera, LS Insects Division, Life Sciences. Specialises in Coleoptera, Taxonomy, Zoological Nomenclature, Neotropical Coleoptera, Collections Management, History of Collecting, History of Museums, Ripiphoridae, Tenebrionoidea, Curculionoidea, British Coleoptera...

www.nhm.ac.uk

or Martin Luff (martin.luff@newcastle.ac.uk) might also be interested in a specimen.

 

[Tom29]

Thanks for such an detailed response.

I have contacted the natural history museum as you suggested and they are assessing the pictures currently.

Will update with their reply.

 

[coh]

I don't recognize it. You could try a google image search and see if you can find any matches. Might need to get an even closer/clearer photo for that to work, though.

 

[Tom29]

I don't recognize it. You could try a google image search and see if you can find any matches. Might need to get an even closer/clearer photo for that to work, though.

Google just thinks it’s an ant

 

[Tom29]

Identified as Springtails (Order Collembola) - small primitive insects that develop in damp soil. They won't hurt the trees, probably browsing on algae and dead plant matter. As the pots aren’t overly damp my presumption is that these have just come from the garden generally.

Always good to learn and identify something new

 

[Bnana]

These are springtails as Tom29 says, and not beetles. They do feed on algae, fungi and dead stuff and are completely harmless.
It is hard to see which species on these photo's but I would guess Orchesella villosa. That is a rather big species of springtail.