Pill Beetle - Byrrhus pilula
This is an all brown pill beetle with inconspicuous rows of dark and light brown markings on the elytra. The name Pill Beetle stems from the ability to retract all appendages into grooves underneath the body, feigning death in this manner and resembling a rabbit dropping
They live among grasses and mosses and are very slow moving.
All year round.
Believed to feed on mosses, as larvae and adults.
Widespread in Britain, but probably overlooked at times.
Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. There were a total of 48 VC55 records for this species up to March 2015.
Kate Nightingale
Rough Hill
14 May 2016
Graham Calow
Sapcote
03 May 2013
Graham Calow
Sapcote
03 May 2013
Graham Calow
Jubilee Walk, Leire
13 May 2014
unusually marked specimen
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Species profile
- Common names
- Pill Beetle
- Species group:
- Beetles
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
- Order:
- Coleoptera
- Family:
- Byrrhidae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 15
- First record:
- 01/05/1992 (Jon Daws)
- Last record:
- 20/06/2024 (Bell, Melinda)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
10km squares with records
The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.
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Latest images
Latest records
Kate Nightingale
Charnwood Lodge
04 June 2015
Graham Calow
Sapcote
03 May 2013
Graham Calow
Jubilee Walk, Leire
13 May 2014
unusually marked specimen
Graham Calow
Jubilee Walk, Leire
13 May 2014
unusually marked specimen
