Anyone Know What this Bug Is?

[Golach]

Dug this creepy-crawlie up this afternoon.  Same one as I dug up last year except this one's a bit smaller.

It lives about a foot underground and can burrow back into the soil faster than you can say "Bug!"



and yes, it was taking a nip at my glove.

This is the underside of it.  The last one I dug up had a greyish white belly but it was about 1/4 inch bigger than this one (which is about 1 inch long).

This one was more of a creamy white but perhaps it changes colour as it gets older.

Really intrigued to know what it is.

[Golach]

[hippydave]

looks like a ground beetle larvae

[Golach]

That's what he was and seems it does a lot of good by getting rid of other pests.  Seemingly they like slugs and snails - could explain why I haven't come across many slugs or snails.

Glad I didn't kill it.