I admit to a soft spot for beetles in the family Nitidulidae. Maybe it's the cute clubby antennae. Or maybe it's just the shared fondness for beer. In any case, the sap beetles are charming little insects.
I found this Amphicrossus imbibing fermented tree sap from a wounded tree in downtown Champaign, Illinois. Tree wounds and their associated yeasts are fertile hunting grounds for entomologists as they host a surprising array of often unique flies and beetles.
Photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 50D
ISO 100, f/13, 1/250 sec, flash diffused through tracing paper
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Heyyy, nice LBB! The antennae in the 2nd photo are particularly dazzling (though if you want adorable beetles with majestic antenna bobbles there's no need to stoop to cucujoids.)
Careful there Ainsley. If Joe McHugh ever finds this post you could be in trouble.
Oh, I'm already in it pretty deep-- we've been working on a molecular phylogeny of coccinellids for the last couple months. But somebody's gotta stand up for Staphylinoidea.