Spotted Brown Rove Beetle vs Ant-Nest Hister Beetle

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Spotted Brown Rove Beetle Ant-Nest Hister Beetle
Scientific Name Staphylinus fossor Hetaerius ferrugineus
Order Coleoptera Coleoptera
Family Staphylinidae Histeridae
Size 14-18 mm 1.5-2.5 mm
Habitat Forests Woodlands
Diet Predators Detritivores
Regions Europe, Central Asia Europe, North America
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Spotted Brown Rove Beetle

A large, robust rove beetle with a brown body covered in patches of golden and dark setae. It is a ground-dwelling predator found in grasslands and forest edges across the Palearctic.

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Did You Know?

This beetle's powerful mandibles can crush snail shells, giving it access to a food source unavailable to most other rove beetles.

Ant-Nest Hister Beetle

A tiny, reddish-brown hister beetle that lives exclusively inside ant nests. It is tolerated by its ant hosts and feeds on detritus and small arthropods.

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Did You Know?

It produces appeasement chemicals from thoracic glands that prevent ants from attacking it inside the colony.