Description: Small (3.5-4mm) black ground beetle with obscure reddish apical spots. Usually found near freshwater on mud and among vegetation. Also on arable near the coast. Eastern and very local.

NI account: There are unconfirmed records for south Louth, south Dublin and Wexford mentioned by Johnson & Halbert (1902). It was verified as an Irish species by the collection of specimens in 1976 from arable land at St. Catherine's Farm, Dublin (Speight et al., 1983). Other sites are now known in Wexford (Newbridge Wood, Camolen) and Wicklow (Powerscourt) (pers.comm. of T. Bolger).

Ecology: From British records it is likely to occupy damp, bare ground including arable land, near the coast.

Distribution: A European Southern-temperate species (83) getting as far north as the extreme south of Fennoscandia and the southern parts of the British Isles.

Similar Species: Bembidion aeneum: subapical spot on elytra diffuse or absent; metallic sheen dark bronze; pronotum dull (B. biguttatum: upper surface with strong blue-green reflection; 7th elytra striae well developed - usually absent in related species)

Key Identification Features:

• Small (3.6-4.1mm)
• Terminal segment of palpi much reduced (Fig. 31)
• Pronotum deeply sinuate at base (Fig. 51)
• Subapical spot on elytra distinct, sometimes diffuse
• Pronotum shiny; reflection faint bluish
• Legs pale, base of antennae indistinctly paler

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

iNaturalist: Bembidion lunulatum at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

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

Thumbnails for genus Bembidion