Description: A 3.8-4.2mm long dark reddish to black ground beetle living in litter under heather on sandy or peaty soils. Common near the coast and on upland peat.

NI account: Widely distributed in both upland and lowland habitats.

Ecology: Recorded widely on peaty substrata or on coastal heaths and stabilised, acid dunes. Also occasional on dry banks in gardens and agricultural land.

Distribution: A European Wide-temperate species (63) recorded mainly from southern and western Europe, between extreme southern Fennoscandia and Iberia, and extending east to the Caucasus.

Similar Species: Bradycellus caucasicus: slightly smaller (3-3.9mm); pronotum lighter, rufous to brown, without contrasting clear margins

Key Identification Features:

• Small (3.8-4.2mm), convex and short-legged
• Upper surface glabrous
• Mentum with tooth
• Pronotum with entirely rounded hind angles (Fig. 91)
• Pronotum brown to black with contrasting pale margins

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

iNaturalist: Bradycellus harpalinus at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Bradycellus harpalinus | Classification: Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Bradycellus

Thumbnails for genus Bradycellus