Steppe Darkling Beetle vs Lebia Greenhead

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Steppe Darkling Beetle Lebia Greenhead
Scientific Name Blaps mortisaga Lebia viridis
Order Coleoptera Coleoptera
Family Tenebrionidae Carabidae
Size 22-32 mm 5-8 mm
Habitat Grasslands Heathland
Diet Fungus Feeders Parasitoids
Regions Europe, Asia Eastern North America
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Steppe Darkling Beetle

A large, slow-moving black beetle found in dry steppe and semi-desert regions from Europe to Central Asia. It is mainly nocturnal and hides under rocks by day.

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Did You Know?

In some cultures it is called the churchyard beetle because it often shelters in old stone buildings and cellars.

Lebia Greenhead

A small, brightly colored ground beetle with a metallic green head and pronotum and reddish-brown elytra. Its larvae are parasitoids of leaf beetle pupae, an unusual life history for carabids.

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Did You Know?

Its larvae are ectoparasitoids that attach to and consume leaf beetle pupae, a lifestyle extremely rare among ground beetles and more typical of parasitic wasps.