Bark-gnawing Beetle

Description:

Tenebroides corticalis, length 7.5 mm. I found this beetle crawling around inside my house a couple of weeks ago. It survived some prolonged refrigeration and a couple of photo sessions. The ID seems pretty clear based on comments and images on BugGuide, though this group can be tricky to ID to species level. To me, it is interesting how much the form resembles that of unrelated beetles that tunnel--below. If you are a tunneling beetle, you must need a big joint in the middle for pivoting, and striations on your elytra to help put debris behind you. (That's my hypothesis, at least!)