Nebrioporus elegans (Panzer, 1794)

This species has a rather narrow western Palaearctic distribution, it is more-or-less restricted to Europe from Portugal to Serbia in the south and to Germany and the UK in the north, the eastern limit is Hungary and Slovakia and it has sometimes been referred to as occurring in North America but these records are for another species. In the UK it is generally common throughout lowland England, Wales and southern Scotland, including most of the islands, much more local and rare further north to Orkney and there are scattered records from Ireland. Adults occur-year-round, they are active over a long season and peak in abundance in the middle of summer. They may overwinter out of water, as is typical of the family, but we once found a large assemblage of adults beneath a partly-submerged rock in a shallow and fast-flowing stretch of the River Colne in West Middlesex during December. Little is known of the biology but adults are widely eurytopic and occur in both still and running water in a wide range of habitats, often in shallow stretches of rivers with little vegetation but also much more generally in ponds, reed beds, drainage ditches and often in artificial or temporary water bodies. They are known to fly and during the summer may either move on from drying ponds etc. or enter the soil or remain among damp soil under logs or debris and at this time they may also occur in numbers.

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4.4-5.0 mm. Broadly-oval and discontinuous in outline, with a large head and robust legs, entirely pale brown to yellow with the apical and basal pronotal margins and elytra variously darker. Head transverse and smoothly curved anteriorly, surface evenly convex and finely punctured, eyes large and only slightly protruding from the outline, antennae with at least the apical segment partially darkened. Pronotum transverse, broadest about the middle and smoothly curved from obtuse posterior angles to protruding anterior angles, basal margin produced medially, surface often uneven but without definite structure, closely punctured throughout. In most specimens the anterior pronotal margin is narrowly darkened and the basal margin has a broad transverse marking either side of the middle but this is variable. Scutellum not visible. Elytra smoothly curved from rounded shoulders to a finely acuminate apical margin, each with a small subapical tooth, surface closely punctured throughout and lacking striae, the typical colour is pale with longitudinal dark marks that may be confluent or expanded into blotches in places, but extensively pale and dark specimens are common.  Tarsi 5-segmented but the front and middle tarsi appear to be four-segmented due to the diminutive fourth segment.