Description: 4.5-5.5mm long black ground beetle with 4 orange-brown spots on the elytra. On gravel banks of rivers, also sometimes on the seashore. Very local.

NI account: Crawford (1936) recorded this species from a marshy streambank at Newtownards Down. Specimens in the National Museums & Galleries of Northern Ireland, Ulster Museum so labelled are all B. tetracolum (R. Anderson). Genuine B. bualei has been recorded from gravelly streambanks on the River Dodder, Dublin (Johnson & Halbert, 1902; Anderson, 1987). Very recently (September 2000) a specimen was taken on a tributary of the River Roe in the Sperrins, Londondery so it may have a wider distribution. Possibly overlooked due to confusion with similar species. Luff (1998) records it as scattered across the north and west of Britain.

Ecology: Primarily recorded from sand or fine gravel riparian habitats up to moderate altitudes.

Distribution: Eurosiberian Wide-temperate (64) as various subspecies are distributed across most of Europe to the Caucasus and western Siberia.

Similar Species: Bembidion femoratum: very similar but third antennal segment dark; femora darkened B. tetracolum: larger, stouter; seventh elytral striae present at base; base of pronotum strongly punctate

Key Identification Features:

• Medium-small (4.5-5.5mm)
• Terminal segment of palpi much reduced (Fig. 31)
• Elytral striae disappearing apically and 2nd weaker than 1st
• Pronotum strongly cordate
• Elytra four-spotted
• Seventh elytral striae obsolete
• Base of pronotum impunctate
• Antennae with 3 pale basal segments, legs pale

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

iNaturalist: Bembidion bualei at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Bembidion bualei | Classification: Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Bembidion

Thumbnails for genus Bembidion