CreatureData

Pale Moonshiner

Amara bifrons (Gyllenhal, 1810)

Status not recordedbeetles

The pale moonshiner (Amara bifrons) is a species in the family Carabidae, order Coleoptera. Recorded adults reach 7 mm in length. Source checklists list it for 38 countries, including Albania, Armenia and Austria.

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Quick facts about the pale moonshiner

Weight
Not recorded
Length
5 mm – 7 mmsrc for Length
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Omnivoresrc for Diet
Main food
flowerssrc for Main food
Habitat
grassland, wetlandsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Active
Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
38 countriessrc for Countries on record

How big is the pale moonshiner?

PALE MOONSHINER · LENGTH 7 MMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 7 mm, the recorded maximum length of the pale moonshiner is about 0.4% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

What does the pale moonshiner eat, and what eats it?

Species recorded in published studies and collections.

Recorded prey of the pale moonshiner

The 24 best supported of 75 on record

  1. Clover root rot Hylastinus obscurus2 sources
  2. Mocyta fungi2 sources
  3. Philhygra elongatula2 sources
  4. Acalypta carinata2 sources
  5. Acalypta nigrina2 sources
  6. Apion cruentatum2 sources
  7. Apion frumentarium2 sources
  8. Atheta oblita2 sources
  9. Atheta triangulum2 sources
  10. Bledius gallicus2 sources
  11. Carpelimus punctatellus2 sources
  12. Cassida sanguinosa2 sources
Show 12 more
  1. Catapion pubescens2 sources
  2. Catapion seniculus2 sources
  3. Catoplatus fabricii2 sources
  4. Ceutorhynchus erysimi2 sources
  5. Beet flea beetle Chaetocnema concinna2 sources
  6. Chaetocnema hortensis2 sources
  7. Chaetocnema picipes2 sources
  8. Diplapion confluens2 sources
  9. Drusilla canaliculata2 sources
  10. Emelyanoviana mollicula2 sources
  11. Epitrix pubescens2 sources
  12. Errastunus ocellaris2 sources

Recorded predators of the pale moonshiner

13 on record

  1. Northern dune tiger beetle Cicindela hybrida2 sources
  2. Tasgius melanarius2 sources
  3. Carabus auratus2 sources
  4. Cucumber green spider Araniella cucurbitina2 sources
  5. Bronze carabid Carabus nemoralis2 sources
  6. Granulated ground beetle Carabus granulatus2 sources
  7. Cricket bat spider Mangora acalypha2 sources
  8. Devil's Coach horse Ocypus olens2 sources
  9. Philonthus lepidus2 sources
  10. Philonthus succicola2 sources
  11. Tent spider Pisaura mirabilis2 sources
  12. Quedius curtipennis2 sources
Show 1 more
  1. Trochosa terricola2 sources

Each pair is recorded by at least two independent datasets. A record shows the animal was seen or found to have eaten the other, including scavenged carcasses and young animals; it does not say how often. Compiled by Global Biotic Interactions (CC0 1.0).

References for these records

Where does the pale moonshiner 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 pale moonshiner is listed for 38 countries.

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

The same countries as a list

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

Why a country list is not a range map

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

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the pale moonshiner as introduced in 2 countries.

  1. Canada
  2. United States

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the pale moonshiner 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 pale moonshiner classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderColeoptera
  5. familyCarabidae
  6. genusAmara
  7. SpeciesAmara bifrons (Gyllenhal, 1810)

Synonyms Amara abbreviata, Amara discrepans, Amara ferrea, Amara fulva, Amara kleini, Amara livida, Amara longiceps, Amara nigrescens, Amara obtusa, Amara oricalcica, Amara picipes, Amara rufa, Amara subacuminata, Amara subimpressa, Amara ventralis, Amara zimmermanni, Carabus lividus, Carabus oricalcicus, Celia bifrons, Celia kleini, Harpalus bifrons, Percosia bifrons

Other names and names in other languages (7)
  • Lys ovalløberDanish
  • Lys metalløberDanish
  • Brauner Punkthals-KamelläuferGerman
  • ruskosiemenkiitäjäinenFinnish
  • Bruingele glimmerDutch
  • Тускляк двустороннийRussian
  • ljusbrun kornlöpareSwedish

Catalogue of LifeiNaturalistITISTAXREFWikidata

Relatives of the pale moonshiner

Other species in the same genus Amara.

ComparePale Moonshiner vs Dusky sun beetlePale Moonshiner vs Social sun beetlePale Moonshiner vs Magnificent sun beetlePale Moonshiner vs Interrupted Sunshiner

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the pale moonshiner?

An adult pale moonshiner measures 5 mm – 7 mm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the pale moonshiner live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the pale moonshiner for 38 countries, including Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan and Belarus. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

What does the pale moonshiner eat?

Its recorded main food is flowers.

Is the pale moonshiner an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the pale moonshiner as introduced in 2 countries: Canada and United States, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the pale moonshiner?

The pale moonshiner (Amara bifrons) belongs to the family Carabidae in the order Coleoptera.

What eats the pale moonshiner?

Animals recorded preying on the pale moonshiner include northern dune tiger beetle, tasgius melanarius, carabus auratus and cucumber green spider. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.

Which animals does the pale moonshiner eat?

Animals recorded as prey of the pale moonshiner include clover root rot, mocyta fungi, philhygra elongatula and acalypta carinata. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.

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). Pale Moonshiner (Amara bifrons). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/pale-moonshiner

MLA

“Pale Moonshiner (Amara bifrons).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/pale-moonshiner.

BibTeX
@misc{pale_moonshiner_2026,
  title = {Pale Moonshiner (Amara bifrons)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/pale-moonshiner},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}