Stenolophus comma (Fabricius, 1775)[]
Arthropods (Arthropoda)---Insects (Insecta)---Beetles (Coleoptera)---Adephaga----Ground beetles (Carabidae)----Harpalinae----Harpalini----Stenolophus----S. comma
2nd May, 2009.
2nd May, 2009.
The Seedcorn beetles (genus Stenolophus) are some of the few Carabid beetles that have the ability to fly. These fairly colourful beetles appear in Spring around March and April and are a part of the scenery until June. They are fairly variable insects, the most variable part being the black dashes ("commas") on the elytra and can be like the one pictured right or even so large that all yellow is obscured. There is apparently 32 Stenolophus species in North America and S. comma is only one of those. Some other Stenolophus species (not all are found in Alberta) include: S. conjuctus, lecontei, plebejus, lineola, ochropezus, fuscatus and fuliginosus all of which are fairly easy to tell apart.