Timarcha tenebricosa
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The bloody-nosed beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa), also called blood spewer or blood-spewing beetle, is a leaf beetle native to Europe. T. tenebricosa measures 15–20 mm in length, is blue-black in colour and is both larger and more constricted on the base of its pronotum than the visually similar T. goettingensis (the lesser bloody-nosed beetle). The body is strongly curved, and elytra smooth and finely punctuated. Its antennae are thick and well segmented, its legs have long tarsi and terminate with a double hook.
Timarcha tenebricosa is monophagous; the larvae feed exclusively on bedstraws, especially species with tender leaves (such as Galium verum and Galium mollugo). The adult beetles usually move slowly on the ground, in the grass and herbaceous plants, mainly at night.
As a defensive behaviour, they exude droplets of their bright red-orange hemolymph by breaking thin membranes in their mouth, which is foul-tasting to predators. This phenomenon of reflex bleeding exists in some other insects, such as ladybugs.
Eggs are laid in spring on bedstraw. Larvae may measure up to 20 mm and are blue-black in colour. The pupae overwinter... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Bloody-Nosed Beetle sighting in Snowdonia National Park on a given day, based on 47 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 29th most-seen of the 387 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Bloody-Nosed Beetle in Snowdonia National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to January, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bloody-Nosed 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.
Yes
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Bloody-Nosed Beetle sightings, Snowdonia National Park has the highest daily chance: about 20%. Next come Cévennes National Park (France, about 20%) and Mercantour National Park (France, about 10%).
Same family: Chrysomelidae
The closest relatives of the Bloody-Nosed Beetle that you can see in Snowdonia National Park (family Chrysomelidae, Leaf Beetles) are Alder Leaf Beetle (about 10%), Green Dock Beetle (about 10%) and Poplar Leaf Beetle (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Bloody-Nosed Beetle is recorded against all the insects logged in Snowdonia National Park (47 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.
