Ground Beetles of Ireland
Dyschirius impunctipennis
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 © Roy Anderson |
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Dyschirius impunctipennis Dawson, 1854
Description: Small (4.5-5.5mm), shiny-black fossorial ground beetle with bronze reflections. Typical of sheltered fine sands in estuaries and saltmarshes. Predatory on burrowing rove beetles of the genus Bledius.
World Distribution: A European Boreo-temperate species (53), found along western coasts from southern Fennoscandia (rare) to northern Spain and very locally inland to Poland and western Russia.
Irish Status: Entirely coastal and widely distributed. It is associated with colonies of the rove beetle Bledius fergussoni Joy (Staphylinidae) at most sites, although B. gallicus (Grav.) and B. longulus Erichson are present in some places.
Ecology: Coastal and seemingly halophilic in Ireland. Certainly stenotopic for fine, moist sand, usually in small, stable areas adjacent to sand dunes. Not recorded from areas of lowered salinity or from freshwater margins.