#3437 · 🪲 beetles
Violet Oil Beetle
🇳🇱 Blauwe oliekever ·Meloe violaceus
🪲 Beetles 📍 in the Netherlands
7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Algirdas · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 2. © Maks Syratt · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © reddad · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © bettb · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Josef Stulz · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Corinna Herr · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. © Christoph Caina · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
Meloe violaceus , the violet oil beetle , is a species of oil beetle belonging to the family Meloidae subfamily Meloinae.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 16 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 13,062 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Thomas Marsham in 1802 (224 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Violet Oil Beetle
- Nederlands
- Blauwe oliekever
- scientific name
- Meloe violaceus
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Coleoptera
- family
- Meloidae
- in NL
- native
- sightings in NL
- 16
- sightings in Europe
- 7,401
- sightings worldwide
- 13,062
- GBIF records in NL
- 656
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1802 by Thomas Marsham
relatives· Meloidae
#3307 📷 7Black Oil Beetle
🇳🇱 Gewone oliekever
Meloe proscarabaeus
👀 66 in NL
#3328 📷 10flame-shouldered blister beetle
🇳🇱 Sachembijenoliekever
Sitaris muralis
👀 54 in NL
#3471 📷 8Mylabris variabilis
Mylabris variabilis
🌍 6.7k seen
#3476 📷 10Four-spotted Blisterbeetle
Mylabris quadripunctata
🌍 5.3k seen
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 130205, Wikidata Q1315694, GBIF 4457477, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.