Plochionocerus sp. (Staphylinidae)
Jatun Sacha, Napo, Ecuador
Here’s a beetle that’s hard to miss. Over an inch long and brilliant metallic blue, Plochionocerus rove beetles roam the leaf litter of Neotropical forests looking for prey. This one rolled up into a defensive ball when I approached it with my camera (top), but after a couple minutes it unfurled and walked off (bottom).
photo details:
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro lens
Canon EOS 7D
ISO100-200, f/13, 1/250 sec, off-camera strobe
thanks to Margaret Thayer for the identification
Alex you just made my Friday! Thanks for a beautiful pair of shots. Some members of this genus have been observed to eat ants – horrible I know… 🙂
Caption for first image:
“There is no photographer, there is no photographer, … ”
Apparently, like God, I have ‘an inordinate fondness for beetles’. Thanks for the lovely pic.
SHINY!
Your photography is so brilliant it hurts my eyes, Alex. 🙂
Adam – Finally we have the answer to the question “what are ants good for?”. Why, feeding beautiful beetles, of course.
What a beautiful little fellow! These amazing tropical insects are the real treasures of “El Dorado”. 🙂
I wonder if it’s trying to mimic Chlorion (http://www.flickr.com/photos/inghramjp/3914676394/) which has a vaguely similar appearance when running around. Beautiful beetle, beautiful photo, as always.
I once saw a ‘bug’ like this in the forest in SW Virginia. Only once tho. It raced to the edge of cleared ground, flipped onto its back and quickly”walked” on the bottom of the leaf layer to go hide! I retrieved it a time or two to see it again. Thanks for the picture. It sort of validates my once in a life-time sighting.