Coleoptera identification for closely related, hard-to-distinguish species

Thank you very much! I Googled this case-really, one to one with a photo. A beautiful animal, it's a pity that only the head remains. It's also a pity that I don't think I'll ever have to meet him alive.

What are the differences between Arhopalus ferus (Mulsant, 1839) and Arhopalus rusticus (Linnaeus, 1758) ?????

What are the differences between Arhopalus ferus (Mulsant, 1839) and Arhopalus rusticus (Linnaeus, 1758) ?????

http://www.zin.ru/Animalia/coleoptera/eng/asemini.htm

first, according to the cut on the last segment of the hind legs, in my opinion, Ferus has a half-cut, and rusticus has a half-cut to the base.. or vice versa.., secondly, they are easily distinguished by color-feruses are very dark.

Good day, help pozhaliysta, on what signs differ poecilus versicolor and poecilus cupreus?

I quote from the "green":
10 (11) Shoulder denticle nadkr. implicit (see back and side!). The head is densely dotted. Nadkr. slightly wider than the pronotum base. The top is copper-red, bronze, green or black with a green sheen, rarely blue, sometimes the hips, rarely all the legs are red. 10,5 - 13,5........P. (Poecilus) cupreus L.
11 (10) The humeral denticle of the elytra is small but distinct (see back and side!). The head is usually smooth. Nadkr. the same width as the base of the prsp. The color is even more diverse than the previous one, sometimes bicolored, and the legs are always black. 8,5 - 12...........P. (Poecilus) versicolor Sturm.
In general, this determinant is freely available on the ZIN website, in PDF format, it can be easily downloaded and used....

Versicolor also has wider" flattened " lateral edges of the pronotum to the posterior corners than cupreus.

I post photos of 2 species of Agapanthia (Smaragdula) - intermedia and violacea. As already mentioned in some topic in intermedia, long standing hairs grow only on the base of the elytra, in violacea-it is clearly noticeable that they reach the middle. Also, in the first metepisterna in a dense white pubescence (almost like in Agapanthiola; rarely the pubescence is not so thick but the same is clearly visible - probably worn specimens) and in violacea in a rare one (here the same-variants-sometimes it is more noticeable than in the picture, but as thick as in intermedia-never). It also seems that violacea is somewhat more intensely blue... White pubescence on the head occurs in both species.
In addition, it seems that intermedia is a monophage on the scabbard (so far only recorded for Cnautia arvensis), violacea is a polyphage (on different families). So if the beetles are not collected on the scabbard, it is almost 100 %Agapanthia violacea.

I hope that the pictures will show at least something.

Pictures:

intermedia.jpg — (144.2к)


intermedia_1.jpg — (141.03к)


intermedia_2.jpg — (135.61 k)


violacea_1.jpg — (142.57к)


violacea_2.jpg — (133.2к)


violacea_______________..jpg — (146.59к)


violacea______..jpg — (138.96к)

Well, to the heap - two species of Oberea from the subgenus Amaurostoma-erythrocephala and euphorbiae. When both are in front of the eyes, they differ without problems, especially since euphorbiae is noticeably larger (14-19 mm, while erythrocephala is 9-13 mm). The main difference is that in erythrocephala, the rows of dots in the main half of the elytra are deeper and more even, while in euphorbia, the rows are less deep and more tangled. Euphorbia also does not have a completely red pronotum (even red with a blackened base and apex, maximum merging red spots).
And yet-O. euphorbiae-seems to develop only on Euphorbia palustris, and O. erythrocephala on various other types of milkweed.

Pictures:

erythrocephala.jpg — (126.95к)


euphorbiae.jpg — (129.92к)

"Sorry to bother you. I was assigned this ladybug to the genus. - Is it possible to get to the view from the photo?
Sincerely, Andreas