Over 4200 species of beetle have been recorded in the UK and new species are added every year. Identifying individual species among them can seem a daunting and tricky experience but thankfully a number of species are readily identifiable and recognisable in the field and should present little difficulty to the beginner (e.g. 7-spot ladybird, Coccinella septempunctata). Many others, however, will need more careful examination of critical features using a hand lens or microscope, and even comparison with reference specimens. Verifying the accuracy of species identifications is a vitally important role that county recorders play and ensures that submitted records can be of the greatest value to the world of nature conservation. Your county recorder may therefore contact you for further details for some records.

The minimum requirement for a record to be accepted to the database is the date the beetle was seen, a named location with grid reference (ideally six figure), the recorders name, who identified the species (if different from recorder), and of course the identification of the species. Please also include reference to any supporting material for your identification such as photographs and/or voucher specimens. While scientific binomials (e.g. Coccinella septempunctata) are the preferred format for names, common names (e.g. 7 spot ladybird) can also be submitted if the former is not known. Identifications only to the level of genus (e.g. Coccinella) or family (e.g. Coccinellidae, the ladybird family) are less useful unless accompanied with a specimen and/or good quality photograph. Other useful information to include with your records would be abundance (e.g. one, several, hundreds, etc), sex (e.g. male, female, mixed), method (e.g. light trap, tree beating, sweep netting, etc) and details about the habitat or particular situation you found the beetle (e.g. swept off chalk grassland, feeding on hawthorn blossom along woodland ride, etc). The identity of the plant species on which your beetle was found can be particularly important for some groups such as weevils and leaf beetles.

For all beetles, the preferred route of receiving records is through the iRecord online recording system. Full instructions on how to use iRecord can be found on the iRecord website. For those not familiar or comfortable using iRecord please send any weevil records via email or post to the weevil recorder and all other beetle records via email to the general beetle recorder. For those without access to email, or when dealing with historic written records, these can be sent to the general beetle recorder but an electronic format is preferred.

Note that limited assistance in the identification of individual specimens can be provided, but please check with either recorder first before sending live or preserved specimens through the post.