Description: Small (3.5-4mm), brassy-black fossorial ground beetle of clayey river banks, marshes and saltmarshes.

NI account: Widespread but commoner in the south. Many old records of D. aeneus (Dejean) refer to this species (Speight et al., 1983). The latter is not an Irish species. Attains its furthest point north at Ann's Point in Strangford Lough, Down. Unlike most other Dyschirius, this is not confined to coastal habitats.

Ecology: Recorded about equally on the muddy banks of freshwater streams and in coastal saltmarshes.

Distribution: A Eurosiberian Boreo-temperate species (54) distributed across the whole of Europe, except the extreme south, to western Siberia.

Similar Species: Dyschirius salinus: posterior limit of clypeus straight (Fig. 26) (D. aeneus: sloping base of elytra without tubercle)

Key Identification Features:

• Brassy, elongate, cylindrical and with a 'waist'
• Fore legs adapted for digging
• Clypeus without a median tooth (Fig. 23)
• Pro-tibia with a strong subapical spur at base of main spur (Fig. 24)
• Posterior limit of clypeus angulate (Fig. 25)
• Sloping base of elytra with a small tubercle at each side (Fig. 27)

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

iNaturalist: Dyschirius luedersi at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Dyschirius tristis | Classification: Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Dyschirius

Thumbnails for genus Dyschirius