[1] This insect is mainly present in Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Switzerland.

Head and pronotum are black, while elytra are reddish, quite soft and covered of fine upstanding hairs.

Female live on the ground and can be encountered in the shells of snails (frequently Fruticicola fruticum [O. F. Müller, 1774]), feeding on the inhabitants, previously killed with a poisonous bite and sucked up with the help of digestive enzymes.

[3][4] The eggs are laid in the soil under the litter and the young larvae of this beetle are covered with hairs.

Once installed, the larva undergoes hypermetamorphosis; the legs are reduced and the hair largely disappears.