Anna AitkenSometimes you go looking for insects and sometimes they find you. At lunchtime today I lifted up a few rocks in the local wood and found a couple of beetles. I was having trouble IDing them so I started watching a YouTube video by Chris Foster from the UK Ground Beetle recording scheme. He mentioned light traps as one way of attracting ground beetles, which made me think today's mild weather would be a good day to put my moth trap out 1/n
I brought the trap in from the greenhouse to give it a clean, and found this beautiful Ridged Violet Ground Beetle nestling in the bottom! Well, I think it's a ridged one, but the Latin name, Carabus problematicus suggests it's not that easy to distinguish from the closely related C. violaceus. I'm basing my ID on the violet colour covering more than just the edges of the pronatum which appears to narrow slightly.
I'm not sure light traps generally attract beetles without turning them on😂 2/n
I'm not sure light traps generally attract beetles without turning them on😂 2/n
As for the other two, I thought maybe they are both Pterostichus species, the second one perhaps P. niger, but I've still got 1hr 15mins of the YouTube video to watch, so if you've a better idea, please let me know! (Pictured here again)
Edit: now confirmed as Nebria brevicollis and Pterostichus niger.
3/3