Black ground beetle

With a very beautiful dark-bronze beetle had to face many lovers of gardening works. Usually it is found in the soil during harvesting a country site from last year’s leaves or from the heaps of harvested tops. This is nothing like the ground beetle black garden (Carabus hortensis). Insect, belonging to the order of beetles. Representatives of this family are widely distributed in Russia, Europe and the Caucasus.

Circus and carabus

The ground beetle gardener - the inhabitant of kitchen gardens and gardens is a rather large beetle, (the body length of adult individuals reaches 3 cm). This is a very elegant insect in which all parts of the body are separated from each other. This is the representative of the carabus genus:

• black with a bronze tint surface of the body has a beautiful metallic sheen;
• along the elytra can be seen grooves with yellow specks.

Garden protectors also include ground beetles Circus genus, the description of which differs only in smaller body size. The structure of the body and black color are similar to the above described individuals. Photo black garden ground beetle is presented below.

Ground beetle of the family Circus

Individuals of these species belong to carnivorous insects, and therefore have powerful sickle-shaped jaws. Another feature of black predators are rather long limbs, which allow them to overcome great distances in search of food. By these signs, predatory beetles can be distinguished from harmful ones, a bright example of which is the ground beetle. The main enemy of winter crops has shorter legs and less developed mandibles.

On a note!

Representatives of both clans are nocturnal. They prey on slugs, caterpillars and other harmful insects, as well as their larvae and pupae.

When attacking a victim, the beetles clamp it with their jaws, releasing a special liquid that dissolves the surface of the body. Due to this, the victim takes the form of a semi-fluid nutrient substance. In this form, the ground beetle is black and absorbs food.

Racehorse

Horse beetles

Another kind of garden ground beetles. A distinctive feature of the horses is a wide head and rather sharp protruding jaws. Beetles have a motley coloring. Active in the daytime, quickly moving on the ground in search of food. In moments of danger can fly over short distances.

Interesting!

With all its elegance, ground beetle is a predator. It feeds on caterpillars, snails, slugs, as well as leafworms and other pests. During the season, one individual can destroy more than 300 pests.

How to multiply

Lives black big ground beetle about 3 years. In the presence of favorable conditions, the duration of the insect can reach 5 years.

After fertilization, the females lay eggs in the soil (from 50 to 100 pieces), of which after 2 weeks the worm-like larva appears. Like adult insects, they have three pairs of relatively long limbs, which allows them to move quickly to find food. Moreover, the ground beetle larva is much more voracious than the adult insect. By the fall of it will appear already mature individuals. During their lives, beetles multiply at least 2 times.

On a note!

Black ground beetle has powerful enough jaws, which is quite capable of biting through even human skin. But it is not capable of injecting poison into the wound, in the absence of such. Therefore, the bite of the ground beetle itself does not represent a serious threat to human life.

Reproduction of black big ground beetle

However, in some situations, black ground beetle is very dangerous for humans. It is undesirable to take a beetle in your hands, since at the moments of protection it releases a liquid that is caustic with an unpleasant smell. The result of such a composition on the skin will burn, if the liquid gets into the eyes, you may have serious problems with vision.

Benefit or harm

Not everyone knows that the black big ground beetle is a very useful beetle.It is necessary not to fight with him, but to try in every way to increase the number of insects. Not only their natural enemies contribute to a significant reduction in insects: various birds, moles, shrews and lizards. The use of pesticides also affects the disappearance of black beetles. Therefore, if necessary, it is preferable to use decoctions and infusions based on plants, as well as bait and preparations that have a narrowly targeted action.

Important!

Among the huge family only bread ground beetle can cause harm to agricultural land. It damages crops of crops, gnawing young saplings.

No less dangerous is the insect larva, which attacks the ears at the moment of grain ripening. The favorite delicacy of pests are wheat, barley, rye, corn. A large number of such beetles can significantly reduce yields.