Troglodyte Beetle

Description

Troglodyte beetles are a genus of beetles, Trogloderus spp., that occur in the SW USA. They are small and measure about a centimeter or about half an inch, on average. They are psammophilic (sand-loving), meaning they tend to prefer sandy habitats.

We finally got a decent group of these and so we are, for a limited time, offering them out at 3 per person, unsexed.

What is special about them is their deeply grooved wing covers (costae). Soil is often adhered to them, within these grooves. The species has adpated to dry habitats and doesn’t actually have flying wings beneath their wing covers, which are fused. This lends them a very unique look that we don’t see in any of the other tenebs (family tenebrionidae) that we offer thorugh the site.

See photos on Bugguide.net