CreatureData

Bombadier beetle

Brachinus crepitans (Linnaeus, 1758)

Status not recordedbeetles

The bombadier beetle (Brachinus crepitans) is a species in the family Carabidae, order Coleoptera. Recorded adults reach 1 cm in length. Source checklists list it for 41 countries, including Albania, Algeria and Armenia.

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Quick facts about the bombadier beetle

Weight
Not recorded
Length
6 mm – 1 cmsrc for Length
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
freshwater, grassland, human_modifiedsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
41 countriessrc for Countries on record

How big is the bombadier beetle?

BOMBADIER BEETLE · LENGTH 1 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 1 cm, the recorded maximum length of the bombadier beetle is about 0.6% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the bombadier beetle live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The bombadier beetle is listed for 41 countries.

KazakhstanUzbekistanNorwayFranceLebanonTunisiaAlgeriaIraqKyrgyzstanTurkmenistanArmeniaSwedenBelarusUkrainePolandAustriaHungaryRomaniaLithuaniaLatviaEstoniaGermanyBulgariaGreeceAlbaniaCroatiaSwitzerlandBelgiumNetherlandsPortugalSpainIrelandItalyDenmarkAzerbaijanGeorgiaSloveniaFinlandSlovakiaCyprusMacedonia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Albania
  2. Algeria
  3. Armenia
  4. Austria
  5. Azerbaijan
  6. Belarus
  7. Belgium
  8. Bulgaria
  9. Croatia
  10. Cyprus
  11. Denmark
  12. Estonia
  13. Finland
  14. France
  15. Georgia
  16. Germany
  17. Greece
  18. Hungary
  19. Iraq
  20. Ireland
  21. Italy
  22. Kazakhstan
  23. Kyrgyzstan
  24. Latvia
  25. Lebanon
  26. Lithuania
  27. Netherlands
  28. North Macedonia
  29. Norway
  30. Poland
  31. Portugal
  32. Romania
  33. Slovakia
  34. Slovenia
  35. Spain
  36. Sweden
  37. Switzerland
  38. Tunisia
  39. Turkmenistan
  40. Ukraine
Show 1 more countries
  1. Uzbekistan

Why a country list is not a range map

Listed by: CarabCat (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

Is the bombadier beetle endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the bombadier beetle classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderColeoptera
  5. familyCarabidae
  6. genusBrachinus
  7. SpeciesBrachinus crepitans (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Brachinus abdominaly, Brachinus altaicus, Brachinus annulatus, Brachinus atripennis, Brachinus coerulescens, Brachinus costatus, Brachinus fallax, Brachinus femoratus, Brachinus fimbriolatus, Brachinus flavosuturatus, Brachinus gracilis, Brachinus immaculatus, Brachinus jeanneli, Brachinus joenius, Brachinus kirghis, Brachinus morio, Brachinus nigripennis, Brachinus obscuricornis, Brachinus obscurus, Brachinus rufothoracicus, Brachinus scoteinus, Brachinus siculus, Brachinus strepitans, Brachinus strictus, Brachinus sulcatulus, Brachinus tibialis, Brachinus virescens, Brachinus virescens, Brachynus crepitans, Brachynus crepitans, Carabus crepitans

Other names and names in other languages (19)
  • Bombardier beetleEnglish
  • Brachinus crepitansEnglish
  • Бамбардзір траскучыBelarusian
  • prskavec většíCzech
  • BombarderbilleDanish
  • Almindelig bombarderløberDanish
  • Großer BombardierkäferGerman
  • PaugujooksikEstonian
  • pommikiitäjäinenFinnish
  • Bombardier communFrench
  • Bombardier crépitantFrench
  • מפציצנית מרעישהHebrew
  • PistoolkeverDutch
  • BombardeerkeverDutch
  • Grote bombardeerkeverDutch
  • Strzel łoskotnikPolish
  • Бомбардир трескучийRussian
  • strelček väčšíSlovak
  • bombarderbaggeSwedish

Catalogue of LifeiNaturalistTAXREFWikidata

Relatives of the bombadier beetle

Other species in the same genus Brachinus.

CompareBombadier beetle vs American bombardier beetleBombadier beetle vs Medial bombardier beetleBombadier beetle vs Cyan-winged bombardier beetleBombadier beetle vs Square-winged bombardier beetle

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the bombadier beetle?

An adult bombadier beetle measures 6 mm – 1 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the bombadier beetle live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the bombadier beetle for 41 countries, including Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Austria and Azerbaijan. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

What kind of animal is the bombadier beetle?

The bombadier beetle (Brachinus crepitans) belongs to the family Carabidae in the order Coleoptera.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Bombadier beetle (Brachinus crepitans). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/bombadier-beetle

MLA

“Bombadier beetle (Brachinus crepitans).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/bombadier-beetle.

BibTeX
@misc{bombadier_beetle_2026,
  title = {Bombadier beetle (Brachinus crepitans)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/bombadier-beetle},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}