Silpha obscura Linnaeus, 1758

This species is generally common and often abundant throughout the Palaearctic region, it occurs from lowlands to about 2500m from Spain to Mongolia and western China, extending south through Asia Minor and into India and the Oriental region further east, in Europe it is present on various Mediterranean islands and extends north into all but the most northern parts of Fennoscandia; in northern regions it occurs mostly in lowland and upland regions but in the south extends to the alpine zone, the nominate subspecies occurs throughout but in southeast Europe and the Near East it is sympatric with S. obscura ssp. orientalis Brullé, 1832. In the UK it is very local and rare although adults sometimes occur in numbers; there are scattered records from southern England and the midlands and from the Welsh coast and Anglesey and a very few from the north of England and Northern Ireland. Adults occur year-round, they overwinter among litter and tussocks or in the soil and are active from March until the autumn, depending upon the season, they generally occur on open grassland or in woodland and are often recorded wandering in the open or among grass roots. Both adults and larvae are predaceous and necrophagous, they generally occur on carrion where the larvae develop rapidly during the warmer months but adults have also been recorded from dung and decaying fungi. Females arrive quickly at fresh carrion and lay large numbers of eggs though this may be determined by the size of the host material; they have been recorded from various rodents as well as rabbit and they come to carrion hidden under logs or stones and to baited traps. Larvae tend to swarm over the surface, moving rapidly and grabbing any live prey present while also feeding directly on the carcass, they are flattened and elongate with a rounded prothorax which covers the head and broad oblique lobes to the abdominal segments, superficially resembling woodlice, and pale to dark brown in the early stages but shiny black when fully-grown, they have been recorded throughout the season on the continent and during the summer in the UK.