Description: Very small (2.5-3mm) shiny black ground beetle of moss and litter in marshes and on riverbanks. Rare. Only old records.

NI account: There are only two old Irish records, that of Walker for Cork and that of Haliday, locality unspecified (Johnson & Halbert, 1902). Occurs widely in south-eastern Britain, with somewhat decreasing frequency (Luff, 1998).

Ecology: Said to occur in shaded marshy habitats and wet woodland.

Distribution: A Eurasian Boreo-temperate species (55) found widely in central and eastern Europe east to the River Lena in Siberia.

Similar Species: Bembidion doris: elytra with subapical spot; frontal furrows single, converging (Fig. 49) Bembidion subg. Philochthus: pronotum with latero-basal sinuation, angles not sharp; elytra with subapical spot Bembidion assimile: frontal furrows double throughout

Key Identification Features:

• Very small (2.5-3mm)
• Terminal segment of palpi much reduced (Fig. 31)
• Dark, unmetallic
• Pronotum cordate
• Frontal furrows double in anterior part (Fig. 50)
• Legs entirely pale

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

iNaturalist: Bembidion gilvipes at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

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

Thumbnails for genus Bembidion