Description: A 6-7.5mm bronze beetle, previously included in Bembidion, living on dry open sand at the margin of fresh water. Confined to Lough Neagh. Old records only.

NI account: Restricted to Lough Neagh in the British Isles apart from adventitious colonies in south-eastern England. Johnson & Halbert (1902) first found the species at Ardmore, Armagh. Two other sites are known: Glenavy, Antrim (Johnson, 1914); and Shane's Castle, Antrim (Halbert, 1910; Janson, 1924). It has not been seen on the Lough since Janson's visit to Shane's Castle in 1923 and is presumed extinct.

Ecology: This species was recorded in the past from areas of fine, loose sand behind the shorelines of Lough Neagh. Several suitable areas still exist on the Lough, but recent searches have failed to locate the species. It may be a victim of prolonged genetic isolation in an area peripheral to its main European range. It is also decreasing in its Fennoscandian localities (Lindroth, 1985).

Distribution: A Eurasian Boreo-temperate species (55) distributed widely but locally across north and central Europe to eastern Siberia. Absent from Britain apart from one modern, probably casual, immigrant record.

Similar Species: (Bracteon litorale: smaller; appendages dark, not Irish)

Key Identification Features:

• Size 6-7.5mm; largest sp. of the genus in Ireland
• Terminal segment of palpi reduced (Fig. 31)
• Third interval of elytra with shiny mirror spots (Fig. 40)
• First antennal segment, tibiae and base of femora pale

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

iNaturalist: Bracteon argenteolum at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Bracteon argenteolum | Classification: Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Bracteon

Thumbnails for genus Bracteon