challenge - Discover Wildlife

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WILD
challenge
BEETLES
Get out this month
to hone your beetlespotting skills. You
can find even more
ways to improve your
naturalist skills in the
latest BBC Wildlife.
Dor beetle
Devil’s coach horse
Violet ground beetle
geotrupes stercorarius
ocypus olens
carabus violaceus
15–25mm. Shiny with a bluish tinge,
spiky legs and grooved wingcases.
Larvae feed on dung in grassland.
20–30mm. Long body and very large
jaws. Lifts tail if alarmed. Hides under
logs, stones or leaves; hunts at night.
20–30mm. Shiny body has purplish
sheen. Active nocturnal predator;
by day hides under logs and stones.
A
s the weather warms up,
invertebrates are much in
evidence – and in Britain
few groups are as colourful and
varied as the beetles. We have
over 4,000 species, including no
fewer than 300 ground beetles.
So to make things simpler for this
challenge, the ones pictured are
abundant and easy to identify.
Most of your dozen target
species are active by day and
can be seen in parks or gardens,
though a couple will take a bit
more searching. The dor beetle,
for example, is mostly found on
dung-strewn grassland, while the
sexton beetle – undertaker of the
beetle world – seeks out corpses
to bury as a larder for its grubs.
Good methods to find beetles
include sifting leaf litter, peering
under logs and stones, checking
foliage, and burying ‘pit’ traps in
flowerbeds overnight. Good luck!
Ground beetle
Ground beetle
2-spot ladybird
poecilus cupreus
notiophilus biguttatus
adalia 2-punctata
11–13mm. Green or coppery sheen;
grooved wingcases. Open, dry, grassy
areas; less common in north.
5–6mm. Small, with proportionately
huge eyes. Hunts tiny springtails and
mites on paths and in flowerbeds.
4–5mm. Usually two black spots on
red wingcases; forms with red spots
on black also exist. Now declining.
7-spot ladybrid
Harlequin ladybird
Leaf weevil
coccinella 7-punctata
harmonia axyridis
phyllobius pyri
5–8mm. Seven black spots on red
wingcases. The most abundant
and frequently seen native ladybird.
7–8mm. Very variable; often red with
black spots, or black with red spots.
Non-native; predator of UK ladybirds.
5–7mm. Elongated head and ‘beak’;
green with gold spangles, becoming
darker with age. On trees and shrubs.
TELL US WHAT
YOU FIND!
Illustrations by Dan Cole/The Art Agency
We would love to know which
beetles and other British
wildlife you spot this April.
your photographs
I Email
and stories to us at
wildlifemagazine@immediate.
co.uk with “Wild Challenge” in
the subject line, for a chance
to appear in print or online.
NEXT MONTH’S WILD
CHALLENGE: WEEDS
lilioceris lilii
nicrophorus vespilloides
Thick-legged
flower beetle oedemera nobilis
6–8mm. Non-native; feeds on lily
leaves and buds. Spreading north,
recently reaching Scotland.
Up to 30mm. Attracted to dead birds
and mammals, which its larvae eat.
Also called burying or carrion beetle.
8–10mm. Iridescent green, with long,
narrow wingcases and swollen thighs.
Feeds on pollen in flowery places.
Lily beetle
Sexton beetle
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