Eastern Ironclad Beetle on shelf fungus

Last August, I found a beetle, resembling a woodchip, sitting on a shelf fungus along the old growth trail in Hartwick Pines State Park. On this field trip I was looking at fungi with a friend or I probably would have overlooked this well camouflaged beetle. It was an Eastern Ironclad Beetle (Phellopsis obcordata). According to bugguide.net they eat “fungi associated with decaying trees in old growth boreal forests.” I love when a beetle reads and follows the rules. The larva burrows inside the fungus eating pathways. The adults feed on the surface of the fungus. I have visited Hartwick Pines several times a year over the last four decades and I still find new things to see. You never know what you are going to find.

Eastern Ironclad Beetle

Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

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