Bembidion guttula

A small ground beetle (only about 3 to 3.5 mm long). It is black or dark bronze with sub-apical pale spots on the elytra and paler tips to the elytra as well. It only has 6 stria (excluding the scutellary stria).

Bembidion biguttatum is similar and also has pale sub-apical spots but this species can be separated by having a 7th stria (visible as a short row of shallow punctures).

It is hard to separate from Bembidion mannerheimi by lifting the elytra and examining the wings, which are usually well developed in Bembidion guttula and vestigial or absent in Bembidion mannerheimi. B. mannerheimii also generally lacks the apical spots but does have the pale elytral ends.

Can only be separated from Bembidion mannerheimi by lifting the elytra and examining the wings, which are well developed in Bembidion guttula and vestigial or absent in Bembidion mannerheimi.

On the ground, under stones and logs etc. It is strongly, though not exclusively, associated with damper areas, and water margins.

All year round.

Fairly frequent and widespread in Britain.

Common in Leicestershire and Rutland. There were a total of 563 VC55 records for this species up to March 2015.