Carabus violaceus
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Carabus violaceus, sometimes called the violet ground beetle, or the rain beetle is a nocturnal species of a beetle, from the family Carabidae. Carabus violaceus was named by Carl Linnaeus, in the 10th edition of Systema Naturæ. The description of C. violaceus was published in the work's first volume, in 1758. Linnaeus gave its habitat as European forests, and described it as a winged beetle with black wing cases with metallic margins and a somewhat purple thorax. Carabus violaceus is classified in the Megodontus subgenus, and is considered a "species complex with numerous forms that display slight morphological differences".
Three subspecies of the Carabus violaceus exist. Besides the nominate subspecies C. violaceus violaceus there is also C. v. purpurascens, which has been subject to some systematic controversy: for the past 80 years or so, some taxonomists have ranked it as a species on its own – Carabus purpurascens – while others still considered it a subspecies. However, recent analyses using morphometrics and genetics have "justified" treating the taxon as a subspecies of Carabus violaceus. The two subspecies are known to hybridize. A third subspecies,... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tatra National Park | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | |
| 2 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Prague | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 6 | Vienna | 🇦🇹 Austria |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Violet Ground Beetle sighting in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, based on 31 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 50th most-seen of the 300 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and July–September
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Violet Ground Beetle in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, against under 5% in November to March, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Violet Ground Beetle sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Violet Ground Beetle sightings, Cairngorms National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Tatra National Park (Slovakia, about 20%).
Same genus: Carabus
The closest relatives of the Violet Ground Beetle that you can see in Cairngorms National Park (genus Carabus, Worm and Slug Hunters) are Smooth Ground Beetle (about 30%), Rough Violet Ground Beetle (about 20%) and Bronze Ground Beetle (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Violet Ground Beetle is recorded against all the insects logged in Cairngorms National Park (31 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
