Silpha carinata Herbst, 1783

This widespread Palaearctic species occurs from lowland to subalpine altitudes from France to eastern Siberia; it is present throughout Asia Minor but absent from North Africa and in Europe extends south to Northern Italy and north to into southern Fennoscandia; it is very variable and populations isolated at altitudes in the European mountain ranges were formerly considered as distinct species but are now classified either as subspecies e.g. ssp. italic Küster, 1851, austriaca Otto, 1891 and blattiformis Reitter, 1901 or simply as junior subjective synonyms. In the UK it was known from Hampshire in the early 19th century but since then it had come to be considered extinct until it was rediscovered in Wiltshire in the 1970s; there have been a few further records from the 1970s and 1980s across the south of England but it has not been seen recently and is now classed as critically endangered and possibly extinct. In Europe it is sometimes locally common or even abundant in southern areas and it is often common at subalpine altitudes but in northern regions it tends to be local and sporadic although as with most silphids it may be common where it occurs; in northern regions it is eurytopic, occurring in mixed and deciduous woodland, open grassland, heaths and maritime dunes, it is also frequent in disturbed habitats such as waste ground and gardens. Adults occur over a long season from early spring; they overwinter under bark in wooded situations or under debris and among tussocks and soil in more open habitats and become active in early spring, breeding occurs in the spring and these adults will die off in the summer to be replaced by the new generation in July and August which will go on to overwinter. Both adults and larvae feed on carrion but they are also predatory and roam the soil by night searching for slugs and insect larvae etc. which they seize and devour readily. Although primarily nocturnal both stages may be active on warm summer days, they generally hunt on the ground or among bark but adults have occurred in numbers among decaying straw and leaf-litter. Larvae develop quickly through the spring and summer, resembling large black woodlice as they mature, they are very mobile and readily attack any likely prey items, including snails although they are not specialist snail predators, and they are thought to pupate under bark in wooded habitats or in the soil in open situations. Adults have been recorded in numbers at carrion and pitfall traps in a range of situations.