Information: Meloe proscarabaeus, described by Linnaeus in 1758 from Sweden.
Posterior tarsi with a yellow-brown tomentose pad on the underside. Head and pronotum coarsely punctured, the surface between the punctures on the head and pronotum smooth and shiny. The rear edge of the pronotum is nearly straight.
Coloration is black-blue or almost entirely black, sometimes a more vivid blue or violet.
Males of the M. proscarabaeus and M. violaceus have a distinct kink in their antennae and the antennal segments are very broad at the kink. The females have slightly kinked antennae with all segments about the same width.
Body length: (8) 11 - 35 (45) mm
Peak activity: February - July - August
II–VIII (other ssp.); IV-V, VII (ssp. exaratus); I–V, X (ssp. aegyptius); XII–I, III (ssp. rathjensi)
Remarks: Meloe proscarabaeus is the most abundant species, occurring most often in sunny meadows, forest edges and pastures. It mainly inhabits lowlands and hills, but can also occur in foothill areas.
Species, associated with primary and secondary grassland and steppe formations. It is generally lowland in distribution, but it reaches up to 1300 meters in altitude, with occasional records at higher elevations, including 1600 meters above sea level. In Asia, it inhabits the main mountain ranges, where it reaches elevations over 3,000 m a.s.l.
The adults are diurnal, polyphagous phytophages and feed primarily on Ranunculaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Poaceae.
Taxonomic remarks. The body colour varies from blue to dark-blue to black. This species is characterized by a great variation in the body sculpture. Several varieties or subspecies have been described on the basis of the integumentary sculpture. These differences seem to represent a cline from West to East, especially the western European (Iberian Peninsula, France, UK, Italy, Tyrrhenian Islands) and northern African populations are distinctly different from the remaining ones. Some Nearctic species with a wide range (e.g., Meloe niger, M. impressus) have extensive variation in the body sculpture as in M. proscarabaeus, but no subspecies have been described. Similar variation, even if not so extensive, occurs in the Palaearctic M. violaceus.
Distribution: Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, China, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Iran, Iraq?, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kashmir (India), Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Lebanon, Latvia, Netherlands, Macedonia, Morocco, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Norway, North Korea, South Korea, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
+ Algeria, Libye, Western Sahara, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen [Following the morphological revision in 2021]
Zoogeographic region: Palearctic, Afrotropical
Taxonomic classification:
Meloe proscarabaeus Linnaeus, 1758 x Meloe violaceus Marsham, 1802
Subspecies: 8
[= Proscarabaeus tectus ( Stephens, 1832)]
[= Meloe atratus Meyer, 1793]
[= Meloe brunsvicensis Meyer, 1793]
[= Meloe rugipennis Mannerheim, 1825]
[= Meloe volgensis Tauscher, 1812]
[= Meloe incertus Tauscher, 1812]
Information: from the central and eastern Europe to southeastern Russia. The body is dark blue to blue-black; punctures are deep but not coarse even if dense; elytral vermiculation is quite evident
Body length: 11 - 35 (40) mm
Peak activity: February - July - August
Distribution: Albania, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, China, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kashmir (India), Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Lebanon, Latvia, Netherlands, Macedonia, Morocco, Moldova, Mongolia, Norway, North Korea, South Korea, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
Zoogeographic region: Palearctic
Material examined (& observation):
Czech Republic 
South Moravia Region
Dunajovické Hills Protected Area (Dunajovické kopce)
2km W of Dolní Dunajovice
(GPS) 
Altitude 260 m a.s.l. | 26.4.2025, 29.3.2021
Our observation period: March ~ May
Sampling Methods: in grassy vegetation 
[= Meloe plicatipennis Lucas, 1846]
[= Meloe subcyaneus Wollaston, 1864]
[= Meloe siculus Baudi di Selve, 1878]
Information: The diagnostic characters are: body black, opaque, in some cases ventrally with blue tint on sides of head and pronotum; head and pronotum with surface sub-alutaceous and almost sericeous, finely shagreened, punctures scarce and distanced (especially at centre), small and shallow; elytra surface very finely shagreened, vaguely reticulate.
The variability of M. p. aegyptius is minimal: some individuals, from Canary, western Sahara (phenotype M. subcyaneus: see Pardo Alcaide, 1961; Bologna, 1994), and Sicily (phenotype M. siculus: see Bologna, 1991), have the body sides with blue tint. According to Pardo Alcaide (1961), the specimens from western Sahara have the pronotum more elongate and with more rounded sides; specimens from Sicily have the antennomere V more widened at apex in posterior view, similar to that of M. p. punctatus and the other subspecies. Some individuals from Algeria have the last portion of elytra with more evident vermiculation (phenotype M. plicatipennis: see Bologna, 1991). It lives at an elevation range 0-300 meters.
Body length:
Peak activity: January - May, October
Distribution: Algeria, Egypt (also Sinai), Italy (Sicily), Israel (Negev), Libye, Morocco and western Sahara, Spain (eastern Canary Islands: Lanzarote and Fuerteventura), Tunisia
Zoogeographic region: Palearctic
Information: from central Afghanistan (in central Afghanistan was recorded also the nominate form). This subspecies is distinct because of small differences in the shape and length of antennomeres. However, according to the detailed description by Kaszab (1953), we suspect that M. p. afghanistanicus Kaszab could be a synonym of M. semicoriaceus Fairmaire, which is distributed in Kashmir and has similar antennal features.
Body length:
Peak activity:
Distribution: Afghanistan
Zoogeographic region: Palearctic
[= Meloe cyanella var. caerulans Brullé, 1832]
[= Meloe proscarabaeus var. pannonicus Baudi di Selve, 1878]
[= Meloe proscarabaeus var. tauricus Baudi di Selve), 1878]
Information: The body is dark blue; punctures are deeper, denser, and coarser than the nominate form. Close to the ssp. M. p. exaratus.
Body length:
Peak activity: February - July - August
Distribution: from Istria and Hungary to the whole Balkans, at least until Ukraine and SW Russia
Zoogeographic region: Palearctic
[= Meloe proscarabaeus ab. undulatus Baudi di Selve, 1878]
[= Meloe crispatus Fairmaire, 1884]
[= Meloe sapporensis Kôno, 1936] n. syn., 2021
[= Meloe tenuipes Jakowlew, 1897] n. syn. 2021
Information: The body is dark blue or blue-black, similar to the nominate form, but with denser punctures and more rugose elytral vermiculation. Incidentally, we found some Azerbaijan specimens with a phenotype like M. p. punctatus, while in the remaining Caucasus, the phenotype M. p. exaratus is widely distributed. The form M. sapporensis, described as a distinct species from Japan (Hokkaido; Kôno, 1936) because of the tarsal pads colour, which afterward was considered as a subspecies (Kifune et al., 1973), does not differ from the eastern Asian populations. Based on the study of a possible syntype (MNHB), M. tenuipes Jakowlew, 1897 is treated as a junior synonym of M. p. exaratus and similar to the central Asiatic populations. Already Jakowlew (1897) pointed out that their differences are very small. Thersnyshev & Axentiev (1996) synonymized both M. tenuipes Jakowlew, 1897 and M. tarsalis Jakowlew, 1897 with M. lobatus. Actually, these three taxa are greatly distinct, and M. tarsalis, in our opinion, is a distinct species of the Lobatus Group.
Body length:
Peak activity: April - May, July
Distribution: Anatolia, Caucasus, Levant, N Egypt, Iran, Central Asia, S Siberia, east until China and N Japan
Zoogeographic region: Palearctic
[= Proscarabaeus rugicollis (Stephens, 1832)]
[= Proscarabaeus vulgaris (Stephens, 1832)]
[= Triungulinus andrenatarum (Dufour, 1828)]
[= Meloe cyaneus Mulsant 1857 - homonym, nec Fabricius, 1801] not available name
[= Meloe proscarabaeus var. gallicus Dejean, 1821]
[= Meloe proscarabaeus ab. cyanescens Csiki, 1953]
Information: The body is blue-azure; punctures are relatively dense and not distinctly rugose, elytral vermiculation is shallow. In northern Italy, northern France, Belgium, and England, some individuals have the punctures intermediate with the nominate form; in Sicily, most individuals (described by Pliginsky, 1913 as M. siculus var. cyanosubsiriata) have very fine punctures, almost as in the ssp. M. p. aegyptius.
Body length:
Peak activity: February - July - August
Distribution: Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, England, Italy, W Mediterranean islands, and with isolated populations in northern Maghreb
Zoogeographic region: Palearctic
Information: This subspecies is similar to M. p. exaratus with reduced morphological differences. The pronotum is about as wide as long; the head and pronotum densely punctuate, punctures are crowded and confluent in part; the male antennomeres vI and vII are less widened on anterior side, almost parallel; protarsal claws are thin and distinctly curved. It lives at an elevation range of 2300-2400 meters.
Body length:
Peak activity: December - January, March
Distribution: Saudi Arabia, Yemen
Zoogeographic region: Palearctic, Afrotropical
Information: The author noted some differences in the shape of male antennomeres vI and vII, that appear uncertain. The elytra are cinereous and with fine vermiculation; the protarsomere I less flattened and less widened to the apex. The last character is typical in M. ovalicollis Reitter, from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It lives at an elevation range of ~3400meters.
Body length:
Peak activity:
Distribution: Nepal
Zoogeographic region: Palearctic
Czechia
