(Ground?) Beetle for ID

[JaneJ]

Hi all,

I found this decent sized beetle in my garden (Bristol, UK) and I have no idea what it is! It looks like a ground beetle but it's the biggest ground beetle I've come across. Any ideas?



Thanks in anticipation,
Jane

[Jason Green]

Silphidae.

[JaneJ]

I think I've been able to identify is as Silpha atrata

Thanks Jason!

[Jason Green]

I suspected Silpha, but I think there's another genus and not knowing their finer details didn't want to go that far.

[Paul mabbott]

There are two common silphids, Silpha tristis and S. [formerly Phosphuga atrata[/i]. You really need a better picture of features such as puncturation of the forebody and relative sizes of the antennal segments. S. atrata is most common.

Interesting little detritivores - but there are much larger ground beetles! You haven't lived until you've seen the big Carabus spp.

[JaneJ]

Thanks very much guys, I'm learning so much by being a member of this site! Specifically I've learnt how difficult it is to identify a lot of bugs (especially beetles) as there's so many variable that can define them. I don't think I'll ever truly know what this is, it crawled away before I could get any better snaps, but at least I know roughly!

[Klaas Reißmann]

It is no Phosphuga atrata (or Silpha atrata). it's tristis.

Regards
Klaas