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, March 2023.

Facebook Group: Leicestershire and Rutland Coleoptera Recording Scheme

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

Gyrinidae - Whirlygig beetles

Haliplidae - Crawling water beetles

Noteridae - Burrowing water beetles

Hygrobiidae - Screech beetles

Dytiscidae - Predaceous diving beetles

Key to the larger water beetles (in Dutch but with very useful images and illustrations)

Carabidae - Ground beetles

Martin Luff (2007), The Carabidae (ground beetles) of Britain and Ireland. Handbooks for the identification of British Insects, Vol 4, Part 2, RES

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

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

John Walters ID guides: