Description: A 6.6-8.5mm long brownish black or black ground beetle with pale appendages living among litter in acid woods and upland heaths mainly in the north and west.

NI account: Widespread on mountains in northern counties but records are extremely sparse elsewhere.

Ecology: Primarily a woodland species in Europe but in Ireland occupies upland Calluna heath or bog.

Distribution: A Eurosiberian Wide-Boreal species (34), widely distributed across Europe, except the south and south-west, to the Caucasus and east to Trans-Baikal in Siberia.

Similar Species: C. mollis: brown in colour with paler margins to elytra; pronotum not converging towards the base, hind angles about 90° entirely coastal; C. melanocephalus v. nubigena Haliday: a form of mountain summits, is sometimes found in micropterus habitats - best distinguished on non-convergent basal half of pronotum (angles about 90°, not obtuse); pronotum and legs brown.

Key Identification Features:

• Body medium sized, slender, legs long
• Tarsal claws serrate (Fig. 72)
• Pronotum little rounded, with sides converging slightly in basal half (Fig. 68), to give obtuse, unsharp hind angles
• Third elytral interval with three or more punctures
• Head pronotum and elytra dark brown
• Legs pale
• Montane heaths

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

iNaturalist: Calathus micropterus at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Calathus micropterus | Classification: Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Calathus

Thumbnails for genus Calathus