Amara apricaria

This is the Amara that I've had most often coming to light here, although it seems to be much more numerous in some years than others. When using the Duff key it's worth bearing in mind that he does not include Amara majuscula which was new to Britain in 2014 but has been recorded several times in Norfolk since, at least some of which have been at light. Although it is usually larger than apricaria and has more smoothly rounded pronotum sides before the hind angles, I think it could be overlooked as apricaria and when I realised it was missing from Duff I wondered if I could have done so. I didn't retain most of the specimens but looking through my photos I suspect not.

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 23rd July 2020

3x Amara apricaria, Wendling Beck Project (Norfolk, UK), 11th August 2025

Amara apricaria showing hind angle of pronotum and base of elytra, Wendling Beck Project (Norfolk, UK), 13th July 2025

This one, the only one that came to light in my garden in 2025, caused me to stumble slightly, though that did have the upside of raising my awareness of Amara majuscula. On one side of this one's pronotum the side seemed to go pretty straight to the hind angle which at first made me think it wasn't apricaria. With other alternatives being ruled out quickly, I was left contemplating whether it might be Amara majuscula, though at 7.3 mm long that didn't seem likely. Unfortunately the beetle had gone a bit mouldy by the time I examined it so I needed to scrape the mould off carefully to get a good view of the pronotum features. Once I'd done that I was able to rule out majuscula, and I noted that the right hand side of the pronotum was not shaped more like apricaria, which I concluded was the correct ID after all.

Amara apricaria showing base of pronotum (4 views), North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 12th August 2024

16x Amara apricaria, Wendling Beck Project (Norfolk, UK), 6th September 2023

10x Amara apricaria, Wendling Beck Project (Norfolk, UK), 21st August 2023

4x Amara apricaria, Wendling Beck Project (Norfolk, UK), 8th September 2023

4x Amara apricaria, Wendling Beck Project (Norfolk, UK), 11th August 2023

Amara apricaria, Wendling Beck Project (Norfolk, UK), 11th September 2023

2x Amara apricaria, Wendling Beck Project (Norfolk, UK), 9th August 2023

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 2nd September 2024

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 27th August 2024

2x Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 11th August 2023

Amara apricaria showing hind angle of pronotum, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 12th August 2024

Amara apricaria, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows (Norfolk, UK), 14th August 2021

Amara apricaria, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows (Norfolk, UK), 22nd August 2019

Amara apricaria, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows (Norfolk, UK), 26th July 2019

Amara apricaria, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows (Norfolk, UK), 7th August 2020

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 18th August 2021

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 19th August 2018

Amara apricaria, Warham Greens (Norfolk, UK), 16th July 2017

3x Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 20th August 2018

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 21st July 2018

2x Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 24th July 2018

2x Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 25th July 2018

2x Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 26th July 2018

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 3rd August 2019

3x Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 5th August 2018

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 5th August 2019

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 5th August 2020

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 6th August 2018

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 7th August 2018

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 7th August 2019

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 8th August 2020

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 22nd July 2019

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 27th August 2018

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 14th August 2018

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 16th September 2018

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 11th August 2018

2x Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 1st August 2019

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 1st August 2018

Amara apricaria, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 26th June 2020