---
title: "Black Oil Beetle"
description: "Meloe proscarabaeus — Insects & spiders. Meloe proscarabaeus is a European oil beetle."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/black-oil-beetle
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Black Oil Beetle

> Meloe proscarabaeus — Insects & spiders. Meloe proscarabaeus is a European oil beetle.

- Scientific name: *Meloe proscarabaeus*
- Category: `insects` (Insects & spiders)
- Habitats: `grassland` (Fields & meadows)
- iNaturalist observations: 16092
- Wikidata: [Q256218](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q256218)
- iNaturalist taxon: [82109](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/82109)

## Names

- en: Black Oil Beetle
- de: Schwarzblauer Ölkäfer
- fr: Méloé printanier
- nl: Gewone oliekever
- pl: Oleica krówka

## Countries with the most observations

DE (1821), CZ (1517), RU (1004), AT (903), DK (642), HU (591), FR (565), GB (564), PL (402), UA (375), IT (316), SK (293)

## Summary

Meloe proscarabaeus is a European oil beetle. It lives in meadows, field margins and other warm sites in all but the far north of the continent. It lacks hind wings and the elytra are correspondingly reduced in size.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meloe_proscarabaeus

## Photo

![Black Oil Beetle](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/black-oil-beetle/medium.jpg)

Photo: Christian Kahle · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39316197

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/black-oil-beetle?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).