#nikolarahme

DOR BEETLE Appearing to Surrender :) Macro Ventral View Trypocopris vernalis ©nikolarahme

Geotrupidae (from Greek geos, earth, and trypetes, borer) is a family of beetles in the order Coleoptera. They are commonly called dor beetles or earth-boring dung beetles. Most excavate burrows in which to lay their eggs. They are typically detrivores, provisioning their nests with leaf litter (often moldy), but are occasionally coprophagous, similar to dung beetles. The eggs are laid in or upon the provision mass and buried, and the developing larvae feed upon the provisions. The burrows of some species can exceed 2 metres in depth.

A few species communicate by stridulation (rubbing body parts together to make sounds).

See the entire beetle here or click on the photo.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotrupidae

Other posts:

Rainbow Scarab

Malaysian Green Flower Beetle

SNAKE FLY Raphidia flavipes  by ©nikolarahme

Creepy Snakefly Taxonomic Features: The morphological characteristics which distinguish the order Raphidioptera from other insect orders are as follows:

neck is lengthened.

head has protuding eyes, long antennae and mandibles (chewing mouthparts).

has two pairs of identical wings.

ten-segmented abdomen without cerci.

lengthened ovipositors.

Snakeflies are predatory, both as adults and larvae. They can be quite common throughout temperate Europe and Asia, but in North America occur exclusively in the Western United States, namely in the Rocky Mountains and westward, including the southwestern deserts. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakefly

Other posts:

Snake Fly in action

Stalk-eye Fly