Description: A 3.8-5mm long brown ground beetle found among grass and leaves in shady places at the margins of still water: In Ireland only on wooded turloughs in karstic limestone areas.

NI account: Added to the Irish List by Anderson (1981) from Garryland Wood in south-east Galway. Since found at Timoleague turlough nearby and at a small turlough near Mullaghmore, Clare within the Burren massif. Lott and Bilton (1991) also report its occurrence at Castleplunket Turlough, Roscommon. More recently found at Glenbane East and Cappagh in Co LImerick by Alan Brown.

Ecology: A member of the turlough fauna occupying silty mud habitats, on wooded or scrubby limestone.

Distribution: A Eurosiberian Wide-temperate species (64), found across most of Europe except the extreme north and extreme south, east to Asia Minor, the Caucasus and western Siberia.

Key Identification Features:

• Small (3.8-5mm), fairly convex and short-legged
• Upper surface glabrous, but abdomen strongly pubescent
• Elytra iridescent
• Pronotum with sinuate sides and sharp hind angles
• Meta tarsi not keeled

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

iNaturalist: Anthracus consputus at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Anthracus consputus | Classification: Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Anthracus

Thumbnails for genus Anthracus