Crimean ground beetle

Crimean ground beetle is one of the largest and most beautiful beetles of predators that inhabit the expanses of the Crimea peninsula. This species belongs to the family ground beetles, beetle order. Beetles are listed in the Red Book due to a sharp decrease in their numbers. This is facilitated not only by the absence of precipitation affecting the predators' food base, but also by the reduction of virgin territories, as well as the use of pesticides and the catching of unique individuals by collectors.

What it looks like

Crimean ground beetle is a beetle whose length reaches 50 mm. Body color can vary from blue-violet to black-green tones. Insect is characterized by optical coloring, which is formed as a result of the refraction of light on a coarse-grained, wrinkled coating. This feature creates the impression that the color of the insect may vary. The abdominal part of the body of the beetle is black and has a shiny metallic sheen.

On a note!

Representatives of the masculine gender differ from females in long mustaches and extended forelegs.

Crimean ground beetle

Habitat

Crimean ground beetle occurs mainly in the south-west and west of the peninsula. It prefers to dwell on the surface of the soil in mixed or deciduous forests, parks or squares, hiding in fallen leaves, under the snags and roots of trees.

Lifestyle features

Crimean ground beetle shows activity in the dark. Only a strong hunger can make the predator appear in the afternoon. Powerful long legs help the beetle to catch prey, thanks to which the insect is able to walk a path of up to 2 thousand meters in length. The beetle is so evasive and fast that not everyone can catch it.

In case of danger, the Crimean ground beetle uses its protective mechanism. It releases from the back of the abdomen a caustic, unpleasant smell, liquid. Due to this feature of the insect, most animals and birds try not to approach it.

On a note!

Contact with a caustic liquid, which includes formic acid, in a person’s eyes can cause conjunctivitis.

Habitat ground beetle

What feeds on

Crimean ground beetle is a carnivorous insect that feeds on land mollusks. The predator's diet includes:

• slugs;
• caterpillars;
• small bugs, their eggs and larvae.

The favorite delicacy of the beetle is a snail. In order to eat a mollusk, a predator does not damage its shell; it places its head in its cavity and digs its powerful jaws into the victim's meat, “drinking” it. Sated ground beetle buries itself in the ground, where it can lie for several days.

On a note!

Crimean ground beetles are of great benefit to agricultural land, protecting them from harmful insects.

How to multiply

Insects usually mate in the middle of spring.Then the female in the ground in the most favorable habitats lays eggs. After 14 days, six-legged larvae, up to 2 cm in size, are born. After 12 hours of hatching, their pure white color becomes purple-black.

Crimean ground beetle larvae have a good appetite, they are able to eat mollusks already after 40 hours from the moment of birth. Not every victim wants to die from the powerful jaws of the larva, resisting and wriggling, it allocates foamy mucus to the enemy. However, a small predator, with the help of its clawed legs, turns the clam shell toward itself and bites into it.

At the end of August, the larvae pupate; they become adult individuals by winter. Life expectancy of beetles averages about 2-3 years.