Stenagostus rhombeus

Stenagostus rhombeus

This is a species that I have often had come to light, both in my garden moth trap and at a variety of other locations. I was therefore surprised to see that the number of records in Norfolk isn't that high. I guess it must be one of those beetles that's much easier to find at light than it is by the other beetle-recording techniques that tend to be more often used by Norfolk's most active beetle recorders.

Stenagostus rhombeus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows (Norfolk, UK), 18th July 2020

I was pretty sure this was Stenagostus but it was a little smaller than some I've had before so I keyed it using Duff to make sure. According to Duff the dorsal part of the mid and hind tarsomere 4 should be about a third as long as that of tarsomere 3 (and more then one third as long for other options). In this case I reckon it was more than a third as long - though not as much as half as long. I guess it qualified as "about" a third as long - but it would also (more clearly) qualify as "more than" a third as long. It did have the ventral lobe that is characteristic of Stenogostus, but had I approached this without previous experience I might not have easily got far enough to realise that was significant.

Stenagostus rhombeus, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 13th August 2024