Description: An attractive, common, bright orange and black predatory ground beetle (5-6.5mm). Found in moss or litter in a variety of habitats including ditchbanks and gardens.

NI account: Widespread and fairly common, particularly on coasts.

Ecology: Less hygrophilous than others of the genus. Fairly eurytopic in gardens, dryish waste places and hedgerows and on coastal sand dunes. In wet areas it is usually restricted to steep, well-drained but moss-covered, roadside banks.

Distribution: A Eurosiberian Wide-temperate species (64), widespread in Europe and distributed east to the Caucasus, Iran and west Siberia.

Similar Species: Badister unipustulatus: virtually indistinguishable except on greater size, disproportionately large head and scutellum which is as pale as the rest of the elytra B. meridionalis: first segment of antennae more or less darkened; elytra very iridescent; turlough habitat only.

Key Identification Features:

• Medium, elytra iridescent and with fine, impunctate striae
• Mandibles asymmetric, right mandible having a large dorsal tubercle and notch (Fig. 104)
• Second segment of antennae very short, first clear rufous
• Pronotum rufous, head black, elytra rufous with black 'hook' mark
• Size <7mm
• Scutellum darker than rest of elytra
• The only common species

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

iNaturalist: Badister bullatus at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Badister bullatus | Classification: Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae, Badister

Thumbnails for genus Badister