DESCRIPTION: Length up to 12mm. A rare predatory beetle best recognised by the ground colour that can range from green to bronze (and even purplish), the three pale yellow spots on each elytron and the similarly coloured labrum and base of mandibles. The slender black legs are noticeably long and the tibiae are brown. The underside of this smark coleopteran os glabrous except for the mesosterna and metosterna. BEHAVIOUR: Adults scurry over the ground in search of prey and very rarely take to the wing. The larvae are pit-predators and live in burrows in damp sand where they wait in ambush for passing victims. These food sources, when close enough to the pit, are pounced upon and pulled below ground where they are devoured. DISTRIBUTION: A local species of east Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of White. HABITAT: Confined to sparsely-vegetated, south-facing soft rock cliffs and grassy slopes. PERIOD: Best seen from spring to late summer.