Subject: Splendid Earth-boring Beetle, Geotrupes splendidus

Location: Upshur County, West Virginia

Stock Number: 06-41532

Comments: This species can either be metallic green, as here, or else a metallic purple-black. The larvae feed in leaf litter, and that is usually where I have found the adults. Adults may also be found in dung, or else on fungi.

Geotrupes splendidus has a range that takes in most of the eastern United States, and is even found as far west as Arizona.