Humpbacked Mite-hunter vs Yellow-faced Horntail

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Humpbacked Mite-hunter Yellow-faced Horntail
Scientific Name Scydmaenus hellwigii Sirex nitobei
Order Coleoptera Hymenoptera
Family Staphylinidae Siricidae
Size 1-1.5 mm 15–30 mm
Habitat Forests Forests
Diet Detritivores Wood Feeders
Regions Europe, Western Asia East Asia
Conservation Least Concern Not Evaluated

Humpbacked Mite-hunter

A diminutive scydmaenine rove beetle with a distinctly humped profile and long, clubbed antennae. It specializes in hunting oribatid mites in the micro-habitats of forest floor detritus.

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Did You Know?

To overcome the mite's armor, this beetle first gnaws a small hole in the mite's exoskeleton, then inserts its mandibles to extract the soft tissues inside.

Yellow-faced Horntail

A large woodwasp native to East Asia that occasionally appears as an invasive species. Females bore into larch and pine to deposit eggs.

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Did You Know?

It carries the same damaging symbiotic fungus Amylostereum areolatum as its relative Sirex noctilio.