Critically Endangered
Elaphrus viridis
Elaphrus viridis
Elaphrus viridis is a beetle in the family Carabidae (order Coleoptera), recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
Elaphrus viridis, the Delta green ground beetle, is a ground beetle restricted to a small region within Solano County, California. Its color is a metallic-green, usually with bronze spots on its elytra, though some lack these spots. The Delta green ground beetle plays a useful role in its ecosystem by pollinating plants, fruits, and vegetables.
Typical adults are about a quarter-inch (0.6 cm) in length.
Range and habitat
The Delta green ground beetle is known to only occur in Solano County, California, though it may have historically occurred throughout the Central Valley. It is known to inhabit Jepson Prairie Preserve, south of Dixon, where it is protected. Even so, the beetle's other known ranges are located on public land. The beetle occupies vernal pool habitats, around that its life cycle is based: it emerges in January following the filling of vernal pools from winter rains and lies dormant in May (around when the pools dry up) as a means of surviving the summer.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
The Delta green ground beetle breeds through January and September, with females producing one generation per year.
In crisis
The Delta green ground beetle's current IUCN Red List status is Critically Endangered, owing to the species' extremely limited range and the endangerment of its vital vernal pool habitats. In addition, the species has been federally listed as threatened since 1980. Another significant threat to the beetle is the introduced Garden lippia, that grows in dense mats in these habitats and impairs its ability to forage.
Elaphrus viridis is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Elaphrus viridis, Wikidata item Q1767867. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
