Onthophilus Sulcatus. (Clown beetle) Plate 220.

Onthophilus Sulcatus. [Onthophilus]. Plate #220. From British Entomology; Being Illustrations and Descriptions of the Genera of Insects, published in London across sixteen volumes between 1824 and 1840 by John Curtis, one of the most important natural history illustrators of the nineteenth century. This finely hand-colored plate depicts Onthophilus sulcatus, a small beetle of the Histeridae family, or clown beetles, recognized by its compact oval form and grooved wing cases. Native to Europe and found throughout Britain, it lives beneath bark, in dung, and among decaying organic matter, where it preys upon insect larvae and aids the natural processes of decomposition.