Description: The smallest Irish ground beetle at 1.8-2.2mm. Colour a shining black to dark brown with pale legs and dark antennae which have two or three basal segments paler. In general more convex and shiny than the otherwise similar Tachys (British, not Irish).

NI account: A single specimen was recorded on Lough Neagh shores at Ballinderry, Waterfoot, Co. Londonderry on 5 July 2019, there being no previous Irish records. A second specimen was captured several miles south of this locality at Doon Beach, Lough Neagh on 1 July 2020.

This suggests recent introduction or natural range expansion. In Britain there is evidence that it first appeared in the late nineteenth century and has since expanded its range into the English Midlands and the Welsh Hills (Alexander 2022).

Ecology: It appears to be capable of exploiting synanthropic habitats and has been recorded in gravel pits, stone household patios and green roofs. In Wales, however, it has colonised more natural riverine sediments and promises to do so also in Ireland, particularly around Lough Neagh and streams in the Tyrone Sperrins.

Distribution: Currently known only from two sites on Lough Neagh within Ireland. Its wider distribution is Euro-Mediterranean and it is expanding its range northwards having recently reached the Baltic Sea (Aleksandrowicz, 2012).

Similar Species: The size of this minute species will distinguish it from all other Irish Carabidae but it may be distinguished from related British Tachys species by its more convex body shape.

Key Identification Features:

• Minute species, black to dark brown
• Pronotum with sharp hind angles (Fig. 60)
• Elytra convex with well-marked striae
• Elytral intervals convex
• Legs pale

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

iNaturalist: Tachyura parvula at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Elaphropus parvulus | Classification: Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Elaphropus

Thumbnails for genus Elaphropus