Tag Archives: Pseudophilochthus fossor (Wollaston)

Bembidion fossor (Wollaston)

Digging Bembidion Ground Beetle (Bembidion fossor)  

The Digging Bembidion Ground Beetle seems to have been on the edge of extinction already in the 19th century.  

See Thomas Vernon Wollaston in the year 1877 (Coleoptera Sanctae-Helenae).:  

With the exception of the B. evanescens, this is the smallest of the St.-Helena Bembidia; and it is perhaps the rarest of the whole of them, being hitherto unique. My example was taken by myself from the interior of the decayed stem of a tree fern, which I had brought away for after-examination from the vicinity of Diana’s Peak.”  

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The most recent searches in the years 2005 to 2006 failed to find any trace of this species.  

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References:  

[1] T. V. Wollaston: Coleoptera Sanctae-Helenae. London: John Van Voorst, Paternoster Row 1877 
[2] H. Mendel; P. Ashmole; M. Ashmole: Invertebrates of the Central Peaks and Peak Dale, St Helena. 2008  

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Photo: The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London

(under creative commons license (4.0))
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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edited: 30.05.2021