Description: Small (5-6mm), yellowish-red ground beetle living under stones on rocky or sandy sea shores, more or less at the high water mark. More or less subterranean. Very local but probably overlooked.

NI account: Coastal, very local and usually subterranean. A single specimen was taken (1994) during a speleological survey of a coastal cave system at Carnlough, Antrim.

Ecology: This species is coastal, but like many Trechus, has a tendency to be hypogeal, sometimes troglophilous, for example at its Carnlough site. Elsewhere in Ireland, it is reported from the upper parts of stony beaches or by springs along the coast. The Irish form, subsp. fulvus Dejean, is not an obligate troglophile, but there are several fully troglophilous subspecies in Iberia and Madeira (Serrano & Borges, 1995).

Distribution: An Oceanic Southern-temperate species (81) restricted to coastal areas from extreme south-west Norway through the British Isles to France, western Iberia and the Azores.

Similar Species: Trechus rubens: body more pigmented; eyes large, protruding

Key Identification Features:

• Sutural stria of elytra recurrent at apex (Fig. 35)
• Frontal furrows running round to the back of the eyes (Fig. 32)
• Elytra glabrous
• Hind angles of pronotum angulate, not denticulate
• Elytra with impressed, punctate striae
• Pale, depigmented
• Eyes small, flat

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

iNaturalist: Trechus fulvus at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Trechus fulvus | Classification: Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Trechus

Thumbnails for genus Trechus