Dark blue ground beetle
| Dark blue ground beetle | ||||||||||||
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Dark blue ground beetle, male ( Carabus intricatus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Carabus intricatus | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1761 |
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The dark blue ground beetle ( Carabus intricatus ) is a species from the genus of the real ground beetle ( Carabus ).
features
The dark blue ground beetle reaches a body length of 24 to 36 millimeters and is one of the largest species of beetle in Europe. Its body, in particular the elytra and the pronotum are bright blue in color, compared to other species of the genus, the pronotum is very narrow. The elytra are widened towards the tip and lie relatively flat, they are drawn with three rows of chains , between which they are irregularly wrinkled. The jaw probes are large, the last link noticeably widened.
distribution
The beetle is distributed over large areas of Europe from southern Sweden and southern England over large parts of Central Europe to the Mediterranean region and south-eastern Europe. It prefers medium altitudes up to around 1,500 m above sea level, but is rare in the lowlands. In Germany it is only more common south of the Main line , but rarely in the more northern areas.
Way of life
The dark blue ground beetle is found mainly in warm areas, it is classified as thermophilic . Its habitat is in forests of medium altitude, especially in extensive beech forests. In addition, he also colonized pine and spruce forests. The species can be found here in dead wood stumps or under loose bark and tree-growing mosses .
Like most large ground beetles, the dark blue ground beetle is a diurnal predator that feeds primarily on other insects and their larvae. It also absorbs tree sap or windfalls and is found on mushrooms. It is not airworthy and therefore very faithful to its location. The wintering takes place as an imago , also socially at suitable wintering places.
Threat and protection
The populations of the dark blue ground beetle are declining, especially in the plains of Central Europe, in Sweden and England. The degree of danger is unknown in large parts of the distribution area. Its decline is mainly due to the parallel decline in the forests rich in deadwood in which it lives. Since 1986 it has been classified as “endangered” in the Red List of Endangered Species .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Carabus intricatus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: World Conservation Monitoring Center, 1996. Accessed on 9 February, 2007.
literature
- Ekkehard Wachmann , Ralph Platen, Dieter Barndt: Ground beetles - observation, way of life. Naturbuch Verlag, Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-89440-125-7 .
