| Calosoma inquisitor | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Order: | |
| Family: | |
| Genus: | |
| Subgenus: | |
| Species: | C. inquisitor |
| Binomial name | |
| Calosoma inquisitor | |
Calosoma inquisitor (the lesser searcher beetle or caterpillar-hunter) [1] is a species of ground beetle. The species is found in northern Africa, Europe (northward to southern Scandinavia) and East to Asia Minor, Iran and the Caucasus, with isolated populations in eastern Siberia and Japan.
Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan family of beetles, Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. It is one of the ten most speciose animal families, as of 2015.
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia.
Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties. The term Scandinavia in local usage covers the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The majority national languages of these three, belong to the Scandinavian dialect continuum, and are mutually intelligible North Germanic languages. In English usage, Scandinavia also refers to the Scandinavian Peninsula, or to the broader region including Finland and Iceland, which is always known locally as the Nordic countries.
The imagines are predatory on various insects and their larvae, especially, feed on Lepidoptera larvae. They can fly well and are found not only on the ground, but also in bushes and on trees. In case of danger the beetle can fall and then threaten by lifting up the front body and spreading the mandibles. The females lay about 50 eggs. The hatching larvae are also predatory and develop very quickly. They're in the ground. The beetles emerge in June, but still linger in a diapause until next spring in the ground.
Lepidoptera is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 per cent of the total described species of living organisms. It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world. The Lepidoptera show many variations of the basic body structure that have evolved to gain advantages in lifestyle and distribution. Recent estimates suggest the order may have more species than earlier thought, and is among the four most speciose orders, along with the Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera.
