Gold ground beetle
| Gold ground beetle | ||||||||||||
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Golden ground beetle ( Carabus auratus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Carabus auratus | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1761 |
The gold beetle or goldsmith ( Carabus auratus ) is a beetle from the family of the ground beetle (Carabidae).
features
The beetles grow to be 17 to 30 millimeters long. Its head, pronotum and wing are colored green-gold. On the latter, three wide longitudinal ribs run in the same color. At the end, the cover wings are cut out and form a small bulge. The first four antenna elements are red, the rest are dark. The palps and legs are also red. They look very similar to the shiny gold ground beetle ( C. auronitens ), but this only has a red antennae and dark longitudinal ribs on the wings.
Similar species
- Shiny golden ground beetle ( Carabus auronitens )
- Dove beetle ( Carabus nitens )
Occurrence
The heat-loving animals are found in Central and Western Europe , east to Poland , but the species spreads further to the east. In the southwest, the Pyrenees are the limit of distribution. They were also introduced to southern Scandinavia , the British Isles and North America . They often occur from April to August from low altitudes up to an altitude of 2,500 meters. They live in fields, dry slopes, on the edges of forests and also in gardens, especially on clay soils.
Way of life
The diurnal, nimble adults also climb trees to hunt snails , worms , insects and other small creatures. The prey can easily exceed the size of the beetle. The animals also eat carrion and mushrooms. The females lay about 50 eggs 5.5 millimeters long. The larvae that hatch from it hunt for small creatures on the ground in the morning and evening hours. They moult three times, pupation takes place in the ground. The next generation of beetles hatch in autumn, but usually overwinter under stones or moss immediately after they hatch. Golden ground beetles can reach two years of age.
literature
- Ekkehard Wachmann , Ralph Platen, Dieter Barndt: Ground beetle - observation, way of life , Naturbuch-Verlag Augsburg, 1995, ISBN 3-894-40125-7 .
- Jiři Zahradnik, Irmgard Jung, Dieter Jung et al .: Beetles of Central and Northwestern Europe. Parey, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-490-27118-1 .
- Jürgen Trautner: Tribus Carabini. , in: ders. (Ed.): The ground beetles of Baden-Württemberg. Volume 1, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-8186-0191-1 , pp. 92-122.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kurt Lampert: Pictures from the life of the Käfer, Series A, Volume 2, Strecker & Schröder, Stuttgart 1909
