Byrrhus pilula

Byrrhus pilula is a Holarctic species of beetle in the family Byrrhidae the pill beetles. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.[1]

Byrrhus pilula
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Coleoptera
Family:
Byrrhidae
Genus:
Byrrhus
Species:
B. pilula
Binomial name
Byrrhus pilula
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Description

The body is short and stout and brown with rows of dark and light brown markings on the elytra. Body length is 6.7 to 9.3 mm.

Biology

Pill beetles can retract all their appendages into ventral body grooves-so feigning death and are then said to resemble or mimic a rabbit dropping or seed. Both larvae and adults feed on moss, algae and liverworts. Main habitats include moorland, heathland and sandy shorelines. They are found beneath logs and stones and at plant roots on damp, sandy or stony soils.[2][3] They form part of the diet of the Red Kite in Wales [4] and have been found in Kestrel and Little Owl pellets.

Distribution

In the Palearctic from Ireland and Spain to Japan. In North America they are found in the Northern Territory of Canada.

  • Ventral view showing retracted legs
  • Habitus Netherlands

References
  1. Fauna Europaea
  2. Linssen, E.F.,1959 Beetles of the British Isles Frederick Warne, London.ISBN 9780723200062
  3. Chinery, M. 2012 Insects of Britain and Western Europe London : Harper Collins Publishers ISBN 9780002191371
  4. P. E. Davis & J. E. Davis (1981) The food of the Red Kite in Wales, Bird Study, 28:1, 33-40, DOI: 10.1080/00063658109476696 online


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