Al Lipscomb first wrote:

The beetle is about the size of a worker. It is dark brown with yellow
flecks on its back. In the sun it looked like the beetle may have had a
metalic blue (kind of like oil on water) coloring.

Wayne Young then wrote:

>A few weeks ago someone asked about gray-black beetles with yellow spots on
>their back.I have also found them in some of my hives.These beetles are
>around 3/8 of an inch in length when fully grown.They also have a one
>segment shell rather than two.

    Verbal descriptions of insects usually do not provide enough
information for identification.

    There are two beetle types that may end up in hives.  Dermestid
beetles feed on debris in hive bottoms.  They can be identified by
the fact that most of them have a white pubescence (mat of fine
hairs) on the underside of their abdomens.

    Carrion beetles could also enter hives.  My book reads:  "The
beetles in this family ... commonly feed on decaying animal matter
and other insect larvae associated with it ... A few species are
found in the nests of ants...They are usually black, with orange,
red, or yellow markings..."

    If either of them can mail me some specimens in a vial of alcohol,
I would gladly provide a better identification (particularly since
our museum has hired a new entomologist who specializes in beetles).

                                                                Adrian

--
Adrian M. Wenner                (805) 963-8508 (home office phone)
967 Garcia Road                 [log in to unmask]
Santa Barbara, CA  93103        www.beesource.com/pov/wenner/index.htm

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*    "We don't see things as they are.  We see them as we are." Anais Nin
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