Abax parallelepipedus

Description

A large beetle (17-22 mm). The pronotum has two parallel depressions (called foveae) and it has wrinkles above its eyes. It also has a 'box-like' shape with the pronotum and elytra edges in a more or less straight line.

Similar Species

A few Pterosticus species are also large, black beetles but the two parallel foveae and its overall shape are reasonably distinctive.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Found under logs in woods and on damp moorlands.

When to see it

It can be found all year but most records are in late summer and autumn.

UK Status

Quite common throughout Britain

VC55 Status

Common in Leicestershire and Rutland. There were a total of 104 VC55 records for this species up to March 2015.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Species group:
Beetles
Kingdom:
Animalia
Order:
Coleoptera
Family:
Carabidae
Records on NatureSpot:
28
First record:
01/07/1992 (Jon Daws)
Last record:
26/03/2022 (Nicholls, David)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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