
I'm in Eugene Oregon where the hive beetle is not supposed to be... However we installed a new package on 4/11 using last year's brood frames and for the past couple of weeks I've been mashing 2 - 3 of these beetles when I lift the top cover to look at / fill the top feeder. I have not noticed any beetles running around the inside of the hive when I open it for inspection. I'm using a plastic bunt cake style feeder that sits on the inside cover.
Yesterday I found 2 of them on the landing board and had my camera with me. He's about 5ish maybe 6mm long and about 2 - 2.5mm wide.
I've been told it could be a sap beetle but the pics I've seen of sap beetles do not have the protruding "ears" behind their head like this one does and the coloring doesn't seem the same to me. But at the same time this one is "skinnier" than pics I've found of hive beetles. And the pics of hive beetles show more of a separation of the upper "shoulder" area and thorax. Sorry if my anatomy terms are not correct, I'm not a bugologist...
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!