#3199 · 🪲 beetles

Black snail beetle

🇳🇱 Slakkenaaskever ·Phosphuga atrata

🪲 Beetles 📍 in the Netherlands

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

what is it?

Phosphuga atrata is a European carrion beetle that feeds on live snails, insects and earthworms, as well as on carrion. The beetle is up to 15mm long and has an elongated neck, which is used to reach into snail shells, which it sprays with a digestive fluid. Young beetles are brownish in color, older ones are black. The larvae are black and flattened and feed on snails as well. They pupate in the ground.

base stats

NL sightings 312iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 13,275iNaturalist observations

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 312 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #37 most seen of the beetles in NL.
13,275 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).