Wormwood Moonshiner Amara fusca

The Wormwood Moonshiner, Amara fusca, is a nocturnal ground beetle belonging to the family Carabidae, and one of the rarest and most celebrated beetles in Britain. Adults are medium-sized – 7.5–8.5 mm – and mid to dark brown in colour, distinguishable from similar congeners by their strongly nocturnal habits and remarkably cold-tolerant activity, with individuals recorded feeding at temperatures as low as -7°C. The common name reflects both its night-time behaviour and its close dependence on Field Wormwood (Artemisia campestris), upon whose seeds the adults feed. Suffolk has exceptional significance for this species: after not being seen in Britain since 1942, it was rediscovered in 1993 at Wangford in West Suffolk by Mark Telfer and Brian Eversham, and the county’s Breckland remains its primary British stronghold. Its future is inextricably linked to the conservation of Field Wormwood and the open, sandy habitats of the Brecks. Image: © Brian Evesham, Flickr.

Find out more: iNaturalist, Buglife, UK Beetle recording