I first thought it looks identical to Pterostichus melanarius, but then mine has reddish brown legs and antennae.
http://www.habitas.org.uk/groundbeetles/species.asp?item=7292
Calanthus fuscipes has these reddish brown legs but doesn't look so pitch black as mine, its more metallic blueish and the thorax shield on mine looks more broad and rounded..
http://www.habitas.org.uk/groundbeetles/species.asp?item=7307
side view;
and a last;it was difficult to get a proper picture of it in the full sun as it is so shiny and deep black. I found it on a stone bridge on the country side on 26th September
Take a look at the description of Poecilus cupreus.
http://thewcg.org.uk/Carabidae/0115G.htm
I first looked at Pterostichus oblongopunctatus but the antennae don't fit, the link was on that page.
http://thewcg.org.uk/Carabidae/0480G.htm
Thumbnails:
http://thewcg.org.uk/pages/thumbnails.htm
This message was edited Oct 26, 2008 7:35 PM
Thank you wallaby!
It sure looks like Poecilus cupreus apart from the legs being more reddish brown on mine..
But then when I clicked on that site on a related specie it also looks very much like that one too;
http://thewcg.org.uk/Carabidae/0100G.htm
I also looked at the thumbnails
Sigh....it looks like it's a very tough one, and I'm afraid my pictures are not clear enough for a sure identification..
Harpalus affinis, the one you linked to, I looked at as well. It has all brown antennae as well as brown legs. Yours has the brown first antennal segments as in the description.
Take note of these points in the description for Poecilus cupreus:
Head, pronotum and elytra dull metallic green, rarely black
Antennae black with 2 basal segments light brown
Legs black, femora sometimes rufous (cf. H.affinis), tibial spurs and claws dark red
All of these points fit yours. There also appears to be Elytra with 2 pores behind middle on third interstice (I take that to be a breathing hole which is visible about midway down the elytra)
This message was edited Oct 26, 2008 11:45 PM
This message was edited Oct 26, 2008 11:50 PM
I must confess that I only understood half of what the description said as I'm still not familiar with the largest part of the entomology terms and I was too lazy (Mea culpa!) to look it all up.
But now I did and do understand it all and yes the description does fit mine, so I can mark this as solved.
Thanks so much!
Lol, those terms can be confusing for me too but I'm learning! :)
