Serrated darkling beetle
Iphthiminus serratus
The serrated darkling beetle is a dark beetle from western North America. The sides of the shield behind its head have little zigzag edges, like a saw. It lives around rotting pine logs.
Lives in
Western North America, from British Columbia to California and New Mexico, in pine woods
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
It lives on rotting logs of pine and other conifer trees and eats the soft rotten wood.
How fast is it?
A garden snail about 0.05 km/h (0.03 mph)
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
Serrated darkling beetle about 0.5 km/h (0.31 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
The edges of the shield behind its head are toothed like a saw, which is what serrated means.
2
It likes rotting logs of pine and other cone-bearing trees.
3
A beetle kept by a bug keeper happily ate chick feed and rotting wood.
4
Beetles from different places look a little different, but scientists decided they are all the same kind.
you asked
Most asked questions about Serrated darkling beetle
?What does the serrated darkling beetle eat?
It eats soft rotting wood, especially from pine logs.
?Is the serrated darkling beetle dangerous?
No. It is a harmless beetle.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Iphthiminus serratus
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Tenebrionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Tenebrionidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Iphthiminus serratus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Yves Bousquet, Donald B. Thomas, Patrice Bouchard, Aaron D. Smith, Rolf L. Aalbu, M. Andrew Johnston, Warren E. Steiner Jr.. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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