Bug FAQCanada Snail-eating Beetle
Sphaeroderus canadensis · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Carabidae
Adults have reduced wings and are active at night, which helps identify them. They are found in coniferous, deciduous and mixed forests throughout North America.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
They can be recognized by their short wings and nocturnal habits.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults have reduced wings and are active during the night.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They inhabit conifer, deciduous and mixed forests.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Their native range is North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 16 of 51 states and DC. Most records: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, New York.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Carabidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphaeroderus_canadensis
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.