I am probably the only woman you will meet that will admit to chasing bugs around in a public bathroom. Yup, I was takin’ care of business when all of the sudden this little rove beetle (Staphylinidae) scurried across the floor in front of me. And yes, I am the one who followed the beetle through the different stalls until I was able to nab it for some pictures. Guess what they have those big jaws for?

If you guessed for hunting other insects than you would be right on. Rove beetles are predators and are easily distinguished from other beetles because of their very short elytra (hardened forewing)…hence the exposure of most of the abdomen in the picture above. Rove beetles are fairly small, with most being < 30mm and there are so many different species (around 46,000) that this family is actually one of the (if not the) largest families of beetles. They are also an ancient group of beetles with fossils dating back 200 million years ago from the Triassic period.

You’d be amazed (or maybe not so much?) at what you can find creeping around in a public bathroom.

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