Agonum is a large genus of ground beetles in the subfamily Harpalinae, tribe Platynini. They are mid-sized to smallish beetles, typically with dark metallic hues – often reddish or bronze, but sometimes black, green etc.
The genus is generally native to the Holarctic and the Mediterranean region; their southern limit in Central Asia and the Himalaya region is less well understood, and they seem to range outward a bit out of their core regions (e.g. into East Africa).
They are wet-loving throughout their life cycle; for example, the genus is well represented in Ireland, where they are more plentiful than anywhere else in Europe.
Species
These species and subgenera belong to the genus Agonum. Subgenus Agonum Bonelli, 1810
Agonum antennarium (Duftschmid, 1812) Agonum atlantis Antoine, 1957 Agonum bicolor (Dejean, 1828) Agonum carbonarium Dejean, 1828 Agonum chalcomum (Bates, 1873) Agonum chalconotum Ménétriés, 1832 Agonum chinense (Boheman, 1858) Agonum dorsostriatum Fairmaire, 1889 Agonum fallax (A.Morawitz, 1862) Agonum gracilipes (Duftschmid, 1812) Agonum humerosum (Semenov, 1889) Agonum illocatum (Walker, 1858) Agonum liebherri J.Schmidt, 2008 Agonum madagascariense (Chaudoir, 1843) Agonum marginatum (Linnaeus, 1758) Agonum menetriesii Faldermann, 1839 Agonum mesostictum (Bates, 1889) Agonum monachum (Duftschmid, 1812) Agonum mongolicum Shilenkov, 1993 Agonum muelleri (Herbst, 1784) Agonum nigrum Dejean, 1828 Agonum numidicum (Lucas, 1846) Agonum piceolum (LeConte, 1879) Agonum placidum (Say, 1823) Agonum rugicolle Chaudoir, 1846 Agonum scintillans (Boheman, 1858) Agonum scotti Burgeon, 1937 Agonum semicupreum Fairmaire, 1887 Agonum sordidum Dejean, 1828 Agonum straeleni (Basilewsky, 1953)
Subgenus Europhilus Chaudoir, 1859
Agonum anchomenoides Randall, 1838
Agonum bellicum Lutshnik, 1934
Agonum canadense Goulet, 1969
Agonum charillus (Bates, 1883) Agonum consimile (Gyllenhal, 1810) Agonum darlingtoni Lindroth, 1954 Agonum exaratum (Mannerheim, 1853) Agonum fuliginosum (Panzer, 1809) Agonum galvestonicum (Casey, 1920) Agonum gracile Sturm, 1824 Agonum gratiosum (Mannerheim, 1853) Agonum jurecekianum Jedlicka, 1952 Agonum lutulentum (LeConte, 1854) Agonum micans (Nicolai, 1822) Agonum munsteri (Hellén, 1935) Agonum nipponicum Habu, 1972 Agonum palustre Goulet, 1969 Agonum persecretum Antoine, 1941 Agonum piceum (Linnaeus, 1758) Agonum picicornoides Lindroth, 1966 Agonum retractum LeConte, 1846 Agonum scitulum Dejean, 1828 Agonum simile Kirby, 1837 Agonum sordens Kirby, 1837 Agonum subtruncatum (Motschulsky, 1860) Agonum superioris Lindroth, 1966 Agonum temperei (Aubry, 1974) Agonum thoreyi Dejean, 1828 Agonum variolatum (LeConte, 1851)