Ironclad beetle

Zopherinae is a subfamily of beetles, commonly known as ironclad beetles. Together with the subfamily Usechinae, they have been treated historically as a family, but have recently been joined by several additional taxa, making the Zopheridae a much larger composite family, and the Zopherinae are now only a small component within it, consisting of seven genera in the tribe Zopherini and one, Phellopsis in its own tribe (Phellopsini). These beetles are apparently fungivores and associated with rotting wood, and as the common name implies, have one of the hardest of all arthropod exoskeletons; in some species, it is almost impossible to drive an insect pin through their bodies without using a small drill to make a hole first. For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry. Get back to Coleoptera

Texas ironclad beetle

phylum	Arthropoda	Zopherus nodulosus haldemanii is a subspecies of the Southwestern Ironclad Beetle in the family Zopheridae. It is native to the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. Like other Zopherus species, it has a long, cylindrical body and an extremely hard, black, non-flying exoskeleton. For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry (Genus page). Get back to Ironclad beetles
Class	Insecta
order	Coleoptera
family	Zopheridae
subfamily	Zopherinae
genus	Zopherus
species	Z. n. haldemanii