#melyridae

melyrids are often colorful but fairly generic looking little beetles that can be confused for multiple other families if you're not familiar with them, but as with all beetles, there are exceptions. Enicopus laughs at its relatives' sparse hairs and goes for the wirehaired terrier look

A Soft-winged Flower Beetle. For some reason this is the only record of the species in WA - the rest are all down in Victoria at the other end of the continent.

The family are usually predatory as adults and larvae, but are frequently seen on flowers. This particular genus is most diverse in Australia, but there are over 100 genera worldwide. One genus in Papua New Guinea contain extremely poisonous batrachotoxins, and may be the reason birds like the hooded pitohui (Pitohui dichrous) are so poisonous they can't be safely handled with bare hands.

ツマキアオジョウカイモドキ、Malachius prolongatus 、5月6日、名古屋市

Plumeria

“An average [golden poison] frog contains roughly 1 milligram of the [nerve poison batrachotoxin - about the same weight as a grain of salt. This alone is enough to kill 10 grown men.  [...] [T]he golden poison frog is not poisonous in itself, it only produces the poison while living in its natural habitat. [...] [W]e now know that the poison comes from a diet of [...] beetles! A beetle from the soft-winged flower beetle family, Melyridae, to be precise.”

MICROSCOPE MONDAY

Four-spotted Collops (Collops quadrimaculatus), Fishers Island NY, August 2016 

two mating Enicopus looking like two welcome mats that came to life. although welcome mats are famous for separating at the slightest disturbance during mating, these two allowed me to get a photo of them making some welcomelings