Ground Beetles of Ireland
Bembidion saxatile
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 © Roy Anderson |
 © Roy Anderson |
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Bembidion saxatile Gyllenhal, 1827
Description: A 4.2-5mm long black ground beetle with four yellow-brown elytral spots. Found on gravel at the edges of rivers and lakes, but more usually on earth cliffs along the coastline. Very local.
World Distribution: A mainly coastal, Eurosiberian Wide-Boreal species (34) distributed across north and east Europe to western Siberia.
Irish Status: Probably widespread, but very local and almost entirely coastal in Ireland.
Ecology: At its Down sites, it occupies barren stony or clayey banks on the upper shore on sheltered sea coasts. In Scandinavia (Lindroth, 1985), it is mainly recorded as riparian on gravelly riverbanks, and in Britain from sand and gravel by inland waterways (Luff, 1998).