DESCRIPTION: Up to 26mm in length. This colourful beetle can be variable in colour from black to purplish and coppery with greenish hues. The head is black with a wrinkled clypeus and vertex and the pronotum is black with purple tinted metallic bronze hind margins. The elytra are broad and convex and have numerous longitudinal lines running longitudinally and three rows of small fovea which are golden metallic at the centre. The legs are black and sender and each tibia has two long spurs at the apex. BEHAVIOUR: The flightless adults are active from early spring, breed in the summer and can still be found in the autumnal months. They are quick nocturnal predators and feed on various prey, including slugs and snails, woodlice, millipedes and centipedes. DISTRIBUTION: Frequent not often seen and well distributed throughout the UK. HABITAT: Under logs and stones in or near to woodland areas, in gardens or general parkland. PERIOD: May to August. |
