Description: 8-10mm long black predatory ground beetle living in marshy places. Very local but probably overlooked.

NI account: Widely distributed but uncommon. Mainly in the fens of Down and Armagh.

Ecology: Strongly hygrophilous on richly vegetated riverbanks and lakeshores with silty or clayey soil.

Distribution: A Eurasian Wide-temperate species (65), widespread in Europe east to the eastern part of Siberia. Many recent records for Clare and southeast Galway in Ireland.

Similar Species: Pterostichus minor: inner pronotal fovea prolonged (Fig. 66); last abdominal sternite of male with a longitudinal keel; elytra with weak microsculpture, not iridescent

Key Identification Features:

• Medium species, black
• Hind angles of pronotum sharp but not denticulate
• Pronotum with two basal foveae, inner one not prolonged
• Last abdominal sternite of male smooth
• Elytra iridescent

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

iNaturalist: Pterostichus gracilis at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Pterostichus gracilis | Classification: Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Pterostichus

Thumbnails for genus Pterostichus