Red-legged Rove Beetle vs Yellow-legged Aleocharine

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Red-legged Rove Beetle Yellow-legged Aleocharine
Scientific Name Lathrobium brunnipes Aleochara curtula
Order Coleoptera Coleoptera
Family Staphylinidae Staphylinidae
Size 5-8 mm 5-8 mm
Habitat Indoors Farmland
Diet Predators Predators
Regions Europe, Western Siberia Europe, Asia
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Red-legged Rove Beetle

A slender, elongate paederine rove beetle with brown legs and a parallel-sided body. It is a soil-dwelling predator common in wet habitats across much of Europe.

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Did You Know?

Several Lathrobium species have extremely restricted ranges, with some known from single cave systems or mountaintops, making the genus important for conservation biology.

Yellow-legged Aleocharine

A medium-sized aleocharine rove beetle whose larvae are parasitoids of fly pupae, a rare strategy among beetles. Adults are predators at carrion and dung where they also lay eggs.

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Did You Know?

The larva enters a fly pupa, consumes the developing fly inside, and completes its own metamorphosis within the empty puparium.