Ground Beetle for ID please

[pressld2]

Hi,

Can anyone help with this small ground beetle, seen at Thursley Common on Sunday?



Thanks in advance!

Dave P.

[Fauna]

Morning Dave.

Not to sure with this one (blurry morning eyes?). It sort of got that small Pterostichus feel about it, something like P. diligens. Total guess though...

Do you have any other shots? Would like to see how many hairs behind eyes (1 or 2) and if there is one or two grooves in the pronotum (looks like one?). Also, can you give approx size...

[pressld2]

Morning Chris,

I forgot the size again! It was 10-12mm. I have just two other shots which might help a little...



Here's a tight crop on the head from the last one...



Just one groove in the pronotum and I'd go for a single hair behind each eye.

Dave P.

[MattPrince]

Single seta behind each eye and lack of a cleaning groove on front tarsus points away from pterostichus.

How about a harpalus sp?

[Fauna]

Single punture behind eye (possible second is not showing in photo, or have snapped off), size 10-12mm, all black antennae, looks like that is its true colour then etc?

I've not a clue (mental block?).

I've gone through my specimens can't seem to match it with yours. I've checked through Harpalus etc...

I will take another stab at it later, unless someone else can put a name to it.

[Paul mabbott]

Yes, it's a Harpalus sp but you'll get no further from these pictures, I'm afraid. You'll need to see the details of the outer elytral intervals (are they hairy, how many pits are there) and of the pronotum (pitted, hairy, neither?) as well as spines of forelegs. This one fits H. rubripes which is fairly common in grassland. However, it would also fit several other species!
It's a female, if that helps .....

[pressld2]

Thanks everyone. I ended up at a choice between Harpalus rubripes or Pterostichus cupreus but neither seemed quite right. I'll bung it down as Harpalus sp.

I've got another one just uploaded so look out for that thread!

Thanks again.

Dave P.

[Klaas Reißmann]

Hi everybody,

it is no Harpalus and no Pterostichus, but close to Pterostichus, the same subfamily. It is genus Poecilus. If there is a photo taken from above or if Dave can tell us, if this beetle was bicoloured or not, I can tell if it is Poecilus lepidus or the more rare Poecilus kugelanni.

Regards
Klaas

[pressld2]

Sorry Klaas, I have no other photos. I tried to catch it to show Rob but it escaped. The colours changed depending on how the light caught it but it was predominantly a purple-red on the elytra and the edge of the pronotum, with hints of greenish blue on the top of the pronotum.

Dave P.

[Klaas Reißmann]

Can you tell anything about the habitat? Open sandy grounds, kind of heath or different?

Regards
Klaas