#staphylinid

[libutron]

Giant rove beetle | ©Andre de Kesel on Flickr.   (Katanga, Mikembo sanctuary, DR Congo)

Specimen shown (yet unidentified) is one of the bigger rove beetles, about 32mm long. The length of adult Staphylinidae ranges from less than 1 mm to 40 mm, however, most are under 7 mm long. 

Staphylinidae is the largest family of beetles (Coleoptera - Polyphaga), with over 54,000 species known worldwide and probably over 75% of tropical species still undescribed. It is the largest family in the British Isles and Mexico, and it may prove to be so in other regions when huge numbers of now-unknown species are described.

The importance of staphylinid predation on pests has been demonstrated repeatedly in the literature. They suppress populations of pest insects and mites in numerous crops (agricultural, horticultural and forest entomology), and of biting flies (including mosquitoes) and fleas (medical and veterinary entomology) [1]. 

[drhoz]

#360 - Rove Beetle

A large Rove Beetle ( fam. Staphylinidae) that I found in Baldivis, climbing a limestone wall.

Australian Critters has a close match with the Glossy Swamp Rove Beetle Thyreocephalus chloropterus, but I wouldn't consider that conclusive

[drhoz]

#139 - Dermatitis Rove Beetle

If it is a Paederus - and comparisons on Google suggest it is - then I'm lucky I didn't pick it up (on the other hand I now have reason to suspect that my shingles outbreak actually wasn't). Some of the species in this genus and its close relatives have symbiotic Pseudomonas bacteria inside them, that produce the poison in in their haemolymph, and if crushed or wiped off the skin that make causes a rather nasty, skin-blistering dermatitis. See here for more details. Medical papers include things like "Evacuation of an Aboriginal community in response to an outbreak of blistering dermatitis induced by a beetle (Paederus australis)". Staphylinids in general are small, predatory, and carrion-feeding, beetles. These ones came out after the rain, over in Uranquinty.