More beetle resources

Haliplus lineatocollis, a relation of my find. CC image Wolfram Sondermann.

Last term I was trying to assist a very determined student in his identification of beetles for his 3rd year project. He worked very hard - they require a lot of concentration :) We were using Mike's Insect Keys, various books, the Watford Coleoptera Group, the superb guides by John Walters (scroll down for the list) and other things on Mark Telfer's site.  I've also recently noticed this guide to weevils by Mark Gurney.

The WCG is usually good for a detailed photo, but they don't have everything (admittedly we're not in Watford). But we found an alternative place to look once you've got a suspect, called Kafer der Welt (German for 'Beetles of the World'), and you can separate the species found in the UK to make a search easier. There's also The Coleopterist website which has many photos if you go to the gallery (though you do have to know the name, it's not like scanning through the thumbnails at the WCG).

For a practical this week I had to collect some creatures from the ponds. There were several species of beetle zipping about in the bucket - I had a close look at them under the dissecting microscope while they struggled ineffectually in a droplet of water. I'd been led to believe that water beetles are particularly difficult to identify, but using L.E. Friday's key (which is now downloadable from the FSC website), I managed to get two species and a good way towards another. The key's been updated now I see. I've also spotted a guide to the relatively huge Dytiscidae diving beetles on the Suffolk Naturalists' Society website (where there's also one for aquatic bugs) .

I particularly enjoyed seeing the long swimming hairs on the legs of one beetle (Haliplus confinis), and it had a interesting translucent plate covering the top of its back legs - for keeping safe a bubble of air for diving down. Also it had beautiful golden elytra (wing covers) with black lines of tiny holes. Very nice for something no more than 3mm long. I love how the microscope opens up a new world of interesting things.

The only thing is that they're very tiny so if you did put them in your collection you'd need to glue them on the tip of a tiny triangle of card, and then pin through the card. Aka "Pointing." It's a bit fiddly. But lots of coleopterists relish that sort of thing for some reason.