Often, while exploring the world of natural history, I go off in search of a particular animal or plant and end up finding something completely different, but just as interesting. Whilst in hot pursuit of a small but agile skink, I was removing a few rocks among which it had crawled. My attention was then shifted to the interesting looking beetle you see photographed below. It is 15mm in length and I believe it to be Saragus costatus, one of the Darkling beetles of the Tenebrionidae family.
As was the case with this one, these beetles are often found under rocks or among leaf litter. Most likely, it was laying low, waiting to come out at night to feed. Most of the Tenebrionids feed on rotting plant and fungal material although the larvae of this particular genus are root feeders. Along with several other genera they are listed among the 'False Wireworms'.
Tenebrionidae is a very large family with around 20,000 species worldwide. There are about 1,500 species in Australia. The 'Catalogue of the Insects of Tasmania' lists 82 species here in my island state of Tasmania, including the well known pest of stored grain, the Mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor.
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For an otherwise drab coloured beetle, it has beautiful golden tarsi or feet.
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