Small World Discoveries
by Tony Enticknap - tickspics
Taking a close look at insects and other small species that can be found in and around East Dorset and the New Forest ...
Eucnemidae
False click beetles
COLEOPTERA > POLYPHAGA > ELATEROIDEA > Eucnemidae
This is a small family of mostly rare, secretive woodland beetles, that are notoriously hard to find and photograph. They closely resemble their Elateridae click beetle cousins and can easily be confused, especially when you see one for the first time and assume that it's an Elateridae species as I did with the individual found in Horton Wood.
Apparently, the easiest way to check that a species is an eucnemid is by looking closely at the second antennal segment, which would be offset from the first segment, whereas in elaterids it is placed centrally on the end of the basal segment.
The British list includes 7 species although, with so few sightings and/or poor recording, there could well be more that have not yet been identified.
Epiphanis cornutus is a particularly scarce species with, at the time of writing, only 51 registered sightings on the NBN Atlas across the whole country, half of which are unconfirmed, and with none reported from either Dorset, Hampshire or Wiltshire. In this respect I should note that my photograph was examined by two beetle experts in order to confirm the identity. I believe that the general form and length of the final antennal segments distinguished it from the not dissimilar Hylis olexai species, as well as determining that it was not the even rarer Dromaeolus barnabita, which was being considered.
Created, Jan.22 (v.1)
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/370ce9_d811bb645a924b0b8bee9773488e7461~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_465,h_310,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Leptura%20quadrifasciata.jpg)
Epiphanis cornutus
Horton Wood (Queen's Copse), East Dorset | July 21