Description: Large (22-26mm) granulate bronze or green ground beetle found in dry, open, usually arable, country. A southern species and very rare in Ireland.

NI account: There are four Irish records of this species of which two are backed by vouchers, but all are old (Johnson & Halbert, 1902). Possibly extinct, but as it has always been rare, and may have been overlooked in the calcareous agricultural soils which it favours, this is difficult to determine at present.

Ecology: A species associated with cultivated land in calcareous areas and unlikely ever to have occurred other than as a vagrant in the wetter soils of north and west Ireland.

Distribution: A Suboceanic temperate species (72) distributed from southern Britain east to the Czech Republic and south to north-west Italy. Very local in Britain which is at the northern end of its range, and much declined during the present century (Luff, 1998). Not in Fennoscandia apart from a naturalised population in south-east Norway (Lindroth, 1985).

Similar Species: Carabus arvensis: smaller, ridges interrupted and rows of granulae irregular

Key Identification Features:

• Large, with sculptured elytra and metallic reflections
• Elytral sculpture regular, with 3 ridges plus 3 rows of small granulae between.
• Upper surface uniform brassy or greenish.

Distribution Map from NBN: Carabus monilis at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Carabus monilis at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Carabus monilis | Classification: Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Carabus

Thumbnails for genus Carabus