Africa Wild

It is in the Scarabaeidae family!

but not a "dung beetle"

and it is a cool sighting, not one of the commonly found species

Armoured Darkling Beetle ???

or

like this one

Sarophorus sp. or Pedaria sp.

Not a darkling beetle, nan and not a dung beetle (subfamily Scarabaeinae), ExFmem

It does not have the tools for dung processing in front! Small head!

A dung beetle ((Scarabaeinae) looks like this




Lamellate antennae (G) are typical for scarabaeid beetles (Scarabaeidae).

Tenebrionidae (darkling beetles or toktockies) don't have lamellate antennae

nan wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:57 pm
or

like this one

IMGL5750 (1024x709).jpg

nan, where was this beetle?

Common Subfamilies of Scarabaeidae in SA

Aphodiinae Small Dung Beetles
Cetoniinae Chafers
Dynastinae Rhinoceros Beetles
Melolonthinae June Beetles
Rutelinae Shining Leaf Chafers
Scarabaeinae Dung Beetles

A chafer beetle then?

Richprins wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 6:04 pm A chafer beetle then?

and now look at the antennae - what is odd looking there?

I have looked up the chafer beetles, but there were no black ones

Color is the last character to consider for insect identification.

You can not find this beetle easily it is rarely recorded, so we go the old school ID route


Check the antennae, how do they look

Klipspringer wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:18 pm

nan wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:57 pm
or

like this one

IMGL5750 (1024x709).jpg

nan, where was this beetle?

in the Kgalagadi, the 6.2.2017