Pill Beetle - Byrrhus pilula

This is an all brown pill beetle with inconspicuous rows of dark and light brown markings on the elytra. The name Pill Beetle stems from the ability to retract all appendages into grooves underneath the body, feigning death in this manner and resembling a rabbit dropping

They live among grasses and mosses and are very slow moving.

All year round.

Believed to feed on mosses, as larvae and adults.

Widespread in Britain, but probably overlooked at times.

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. There were a total of 48 VC55 records for this species up to March 2015.