Araeoschizus sp. Ant Beetle (Tenebrionidae)
California
Araeoschizus is a small genus of darkling beetle that both resembles ants and lives close to ant nests. It occurs in the arid western regions of North America. Not much is known about the nature of the association of these beetles with the ants, but they may subsist on the refuse of harvester ant colonies.
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon 20D
f/13, 1/250 sec, ISO 100, twin flash diffused through tracing paper
Beetles collected by Kojun Kanda.
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What a beauty!
Of course it's a beauty. It looks like an ant. ;)
"Of course itâs a beauty. It looks like an ant."
What's up with your avatar? It definitely doesn't look like an ant! ;-)
Emile at The World We Don't Live In has an entry on another beetle that lives in ant nests, but doesn't look a thing in the world like them.
Definitely ant-like. I could easily mis-identify it any day of the week.