Desert Ironclad Beetles

There was some form of serenade going on here - the fellow on top was making fantastic little squeaky noises by fidgeting... if you crank the volume WAY up, you can hear a sliiight grinding noise that is nearly continuous in the background. Folks who have been around birds that grind their beaks when they sleep, this is reminiscent of that noise. It was hard to not get neighborhood dogs barking in the background, but hopefully this snippet isn't too bad.

After a rather long discussion between the pair, they parted ways.

I'm fairly certain that these are two different species of Omorgus beetles... official ID pending.

Top shell is lumpy, bottom shell is smooth... that's where the differences start.

And what do I find most perplexing about this encounter?

Not the noises - though fantastic...

Not that the critter above was represented by ~6 individuals for the evening, nor that the individual below was represented by only one individual for the evening (and was a new critter for us)...

Yeah. That hind leg. It has a friend. Eeeeehehehehehewwww.
/Survived Parasitology. Barely.