---
title: "Black snail beetle"
description: "Phosphuga atrata — Insectos y arañas. Phosphuga is a Eurasian genus of flightless carrion beetle, whose sole member is the species Phosphuga atrata, commonly known as black snail beetle."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/es/animal/black-snail-beetle
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Black snail beetle

> Phosphuga atrata — Insectos y arañas. Phosphuga is a Eurasian genus of flightless carrion beetle, whose sole member is the species Phosphuga atrata, commonly known as black snail beetle.

- Scientific name: *Phosphuga atrata*
- Category: `insects` (Insectos y arañas)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 13109
- Wikidata: [Q372687](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q372687)
- iNaturalist taxon: [362281](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/362281)

## Names

- en: Black snail beetle
- de: Schwarzer Schneckenjäger
- fr: Silphe noir
- nl: Slakkenaaskever

## Countries with the most observations

DE (2452), RU (1700), GB (1341), AT (1161), FR (783), DK (719), PL (597), CZ (509), FI (445), UA (358), NL (309), CH (293)

## Summary

Phosphuga is a Eurasian genus of flightless carrion beetle, whose sole member is the species Phosphuga atrata, commonly known as black snail beetle. Up to 15mm long, they have an oval shape as adults and are brownish in color when newly moulted, becoming black as their exoskeleton hardens. Black snail beetles resemble (and are presumably closely related to and sometimes even included in) the type genus Silpha of the carrion beetle subfamily Silphinae, and are thus placed in tribe Silphini. Although they range widely, they are seldom encountered by people, because they hunt at night and hide during the day, often under…

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

## Photo

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

Photo: Dominic Best · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/322936315

## Machine access

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