Description: Small (3.5-4.3mm) brownish ground beetle with slight metallic sheen. Largely synanthropic, found in cellars, stables, under ivy on walls etc.

NI account: Very scattered but rare throughout.

Ecology: This is a species with synanthropic tendencies in northern parts of its range, occurring around human dwellings, often on walls. It also occurs in coastal localities, where it has primarily been found on natural rocks. It is probably native along the coast, but seldom encountered.

Distribution: A European Southern-temperate species (83) distributed from the southern part of Fennoscandia and the British Isles south to Italy and the Balkans and east to Asia Minor and the Caucasus.

Similar Species: Ocys harpaloides: elytra with one setiferous puncture; pronotal base straight (Fig 56); more bicoloured, rufous and brown, without metallic lustre

Key Identification Features:

• Small, elytra with two setiferous punctures
• Sutural striae of elytra recurrent
• Terminal segment of palpi much reduced
• Prontal base oblique laterally (Fig 56)
• Uniform brown to reddish-brown, but with greenish metallic lustre

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

iNaturalist: Ocys quinquestriatus at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Ocys quinquestriatus | Classification: Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Ocys

Thumbnails for genus Ocys