Tag Archives: Putnam County

Ochthebius putnamensis Blatchley

Putnam Minute Moss Beetle (Ochthebius putnamensis)  

The Putnam Minute Moss Beetle was described in 1910 based on material that had been sieved from the debris near a spring at a hillside somewhere in Putnam County in Indiana, USA. 

 The beetle is about 0,15 cm long, head and thorax are bronze colored, the elytra are glossy black, the legs are reddish brown. [1]  

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The species was apparently never found again since and is thus considered probably extinct, however, given the very small size of the beetle and the fact that the exact type locality is not known, there is a high possibility that it still exists.  

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References:  [1] W. S. Blatchley: An illustrated descriptive catalogue of the Coleoptera or beetles (exclusive of the Rhynchophora) known to occur in Indiana. Indianapolis, W. B. Burford, contractor for state printing 1910  

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Depiction from: ‘Philip Don Perkins: Aquatic beetles of the family Hydraenidae in the Western Hemisphere: classification, biogeography and inferred phylogeny (Insecta: Coleoptera). Quaestiones Entomologicae 16: 3-554. 1980’  

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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0  

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edited: 20.03.2018