Looking for family looking for tribe

It's been a busy week on the natural history front. A trip out on Tuesday and then several nights of moth trapping in the warm evenings. Most of these were at home but Thursday found me at Chippenham Fen again. I've got a backlog of beetles that need a closer examination, but I have managed to knock another couple of beetle families off the list.

First up was the Colydiidae or Cylindrical bark beetles in common parlance. My first taste of this family came in the form of Aulonium trisulcus. According to some sources it specialises at predating elm bark beetles, but the smart money is actually on them being saprophagous or a scavenger attracted to conditions created by elm bark beetle damage. Adults are also apparently most often recorded at MV, as this one was.

 

The second new family was Hydraenidae aka the Moss beetles. The one that turned in my trap on Wednesday had the look of a Helophorus species, the colour and shape were similar but the pronotum was all wrong with none of the longitudinal furrows. I think this one is Ochthebius minimus but always happy to be corrected. It's a common species associated with a variety of fresh water habitats. 

I'll need to work through the remaining specimens this week. There are quite a few dark Badister species so it will be interesting to see if I find more collaris.

The post's title inspiration comes from the band that I've seen live more than any other. Enjoy.