Spotted Tumbling Flower Beetle vs Sharp's Rove Beetle

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Spotted Tumbling Flower Beetle Sharp's Rove Beetle
Scientific Name Mordellistena pumila Philonthus sharpi
Order Coleoptera Coleoptera
Family Mordellidae Staphylinidae
Size 2-3.5 mm 7-10 mm
Habitat Farmland Woodlands
Diet Pollen Feeders Detritivores
Regions Europe Japan, Korea, Eastern China
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Spotted Tumbling Flower Beetle

A tiny tumbling flower beetle found on composite flowers in summer. Larvae develop in plant stems. One of the smallest and most frequently encountered mordellid species.

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Did You Know?

So small that it can hide inside individual florets of composite flower heads.

Sharp's Rove Beetle

A medium-sized, metallic-sheened rove beetle named after the eminent coleopterist David Sharp. It is found in woodland and forest habitats where it hunts among leaf litter.

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Did You Know?

Named after David Sharp, the Victorian entomologist who described over 3,000 staphylinid species and wrote the definitive 19th-century monograph on rove beetles.