Bleddy hell

Staphs are still my favourite beetle family by a country mile. When I first bought the two RES books I immediately turned to the plates to have a look at what was in story for me. There was lots to whet the appetite but the genus Bledius really stood out, especially the males of B. spectabilis with their pronotal projections that give the impression of a horn.

Just look at the thing! It's like something Obi Wan Kenobi would ride into a battle on.

I couldn't wait to see my first one. I didn't have to wait long as on my first holiday after picking up the beetling bug I ended up in coastal Dorset for a fortnight and spent a bit of time pootling around the soft cliffs. I picked up a couple of female Bledius but they stubbornly refused to be named. I even ended taking the specimens to the Staph workshop at Dinton Pastures where even Roger Booth who was running the thing could only get them to species pairs.

A similar thing happened with a couple that turned up to light at Chippenham Fen. Females and pretty much impossible to ID. 

So I had resigned myself to making a coastal trip at some point to try and find some males and had put them to the back of my staph filled mind.

Then last summer one turned up in the garden light trap and I carded it and put it to one side for a rainy day ID attempt. That day came earlier this week, and I picked it out the unidentified box with no real hope of putting a name to it.

Surprisingly and more than a little pleasingly it keyed simply to Bledius gallicus. This is a species that occurs in two colour forms; one with black elytra and and the other with red, but the former (and the one I caught) is found in the south. Like others in its genus it's associated with water but this one is fresh rather than coastal in habitat and apparently likes sand by rivers and streams. 

So it's nice to finally get a name to one, I just need to track down one of those Star Wars battle tank ones now.....