Scaphinotus velutinus
Scaphinotus velutinus
Size: 19-30mm
Seasonality: March-November
Distribution; w.OR, nw.CA
Information: primarily a predator of soft-bodied organisms, but will also scavenge upon dead and decaying animals of all sorts.
Description: body: elongate-ovate, moderately convex; elytra/abdomen ovate, broad; pronotum very slender, short. Dorsal colouration matte grey, margins of the elytra should be pale grey to blue-violet. Ventral colouration glossy black. Head elongate, slender. The dorsal surface of the head should have several weak, shallow transverse wrinkles, though a few wrinkles should be found over the eyes, running parallel to the lateral faces of the head. Clypeus semi-glossy to matte, front margin nearly straight, hind margins round, weakly wrinkled; labrum resembles an inverted 'U' shape, with a setigerous pit near the front of either dorsal front margin. Mandibles dark, elongate-slender; inner margins toothed; outer basal margins flattish. Palpi long, glossy black; each with a broad, semi-triangular final segment, front margin flat. Eyes strongly reduced in size, weakly bulging laterally. Ridges present in front of the eyes. Antennae slender, long; black in colour; antennal pubescence begins on the third antennoere following the pedicel. Pronotum small, semi-cordate, slender. Front margin slightly curved inward, front angles acute; front half of the lateral margins curved, divided from the lower half of the lateral margin by a strongly obtuse angle; lower half of the lateral margins slope towards the base, very faintly curved inward; hind angles squared. Front margin thinly beaded, lateral margins strongly beaded; no beading on the basal margin. Median line thin, often deep, with many wrinkled fanning out from it; disk otherwise flattish. Scutellum very small, not visible without magnification. 20-22 very shallow striae per elytron, may appear rough. Humeral shoulder practically absent, sloping strongly apically, broadest just before the apices; lateral margins rounded; apices strongly pointed.