Melandryidae - False darkling beetles

All images on this website have been taken in Leicestershire and Rutland by NatureSpot members. We welcome new contributions - just register and use the Submit Records form to post your photos. Click on any image below to visit the species page. The RED / AMBER / GREEN dots indicate how easy it is to identify the species - see our Identification Difficulty page for more information. A coloured rating followed by an exclamation mark denotes that different ID difficulties apply to either males and females or to the larvae - see the species page for more detail.

Beetles

Beetles represent the largest insect group with around 4,000 species in Britain and 300,000 worldwide. They are easy to recognise as their front wings are hard, covering the second pair of wings and the abdomen. All beetles have biting mouthparts. The beetle species in this gallery are grouped into families which are presented in taxonomic order according to the Checklist of Beetles of the British Isles (Duff 2012).

An annotated Checklist to the Beetles of VC55. G.L. Finch, February 2024

Facebook Group: Leicestershire and Rutland Coleoptera Recording Scheme

Click on the headings below to expand/contract the text:

Leicestershire and Rutland resources

Scarce VC55 Beetles part 1 - Graham Finch

Scarce VC55 Beetles part 2 - Graham Finch

VC55 Cerambycidae Atlas - Graham Finch

VC55 Coccinellidae Atlas - Graham Finch (updated to the end of 2020)

Leicestershire Red Data Book Beetles (Derek Lott 1985)

Leicestershire Coleoptera Recording Scheme newsletter #1 (Feb 1984)

Leicestershire Coleoptera Recording Scheme newsletter #2 (Mar 1985)

Leicestershire Coleoptera Recording Scheme newsletter #3 (Apr1986)

Leicestershire Coleoptera Recording Scheme newsletter #4 (Dec 2018)

Leicestershire Coleoptera Recording Scheme newsletter #5 (Apr 2020)

Leicestershire Coleoptera Recording Scheme newsletter #6 (Jan 2021)

Keys

Video: An Introduction to UK Ground Beetles, including a presentation, quiz and question and answer session - Chris Foster, Ground Beetle Recording Scheme

Mike's insect keys - an excellent resource listing free online keys to many beetle families.

Weevil keys - photographic guide to UK weevils

Larger water beetles - a Dutch key but with very useful photos

Soldier beetles - illustrated guide to UK species

The Royal Entomological Society has produced keys to many insect groups including numerous families of beetles. The more modern publications tend to have a mixture of photographs and line drawings, older versions line drawings alone. Electronic versions of out-of-print volumes can be downloaded for free from the link on the page.

The Coleopterist - the leading journal for students of the beetle fauna of the British Isles.

Other useful websites and publication

Online

Coleopterists Society of Britain and Ireland

UK Beetle Recording - a comprehensive site about UK beetles. Has over 700 beetle photos though layout is not easy to use for finding a look-alike.

The Ground Beetles of Ireland - great photos of live beetles. Has a photographic key.

John Walters illustrated ID guides - a series of excellent downloadable leaflets - most free.

Beetles of Germany - wonderful site with top class images. Many of the species are the same as those found in the UK.

European Carabidae - excellent site with comprehensive gallery of high quality images. Has a great function to allow comparison of selected species.

Ladybird larvae - photo id pdf from the Ladybird Survey.

Beetle News - free, downloadable newsletter, most issues include excellent guides to a beetle group.

Dung beetle pictorial guide

Printed

Note: To source some of the more obscure beetle books you need to look beyond Amazon. Pemberley Books and NHBS are worth checking out.

Beetles of Britain and Ireland by Andrew G. Duff. Four volumes - the first comprehensive account since Joy (1932).

Longhorn Beetles - an excellent 2 part identification guide published in British Wildlife Part 1:18:406-14, Aug 2007, Part 2: 19:35-43, Oct 07.

The Leicestershire Coleopterists, Derek Lott. A fascinating account of 200 years of beetle hunting in the County.

Beetles of the Czech and Slovak Republics, Karel Hurka - very good general overview with quality colour plates. Many beetles overlap with British the fauna