Calosoma sycophanta

Calosoma sycophanta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Adephaga
Family:	Carabidae
Genus:	Calosoma
Species:	C. sycophanta
Binomial name
Calosoma sycophanta (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Carabus sycophanta Linnaeus, 1758 [1] Calosoma azureumLetzner, 1850 Calosoma cupreumLetzner, 1850 Calosoma marginatumLetzner, 1850 Calosoma nigrocyaneumLetzner, 1850 Calosoma purpureoaureumLetzner, 1850 Calosoma severumChaudoir, 1850 Callipara rapaxMotschulsky, 1866 Calosoma smaragdynumG.Rossi, 1882 Calosoma habelmanniSchilsky, 1888 Calosoma purpureipenneReitter, 1891 Calosoma corvinumHeller, 1897 Calosoma anthracinumHoulbert, 1907 Calosoma prasinumLapouge, 1907 Calosoma solinfectumJännichen, 1914 Calosoma lapougeiBreuning, 1927 Calosoma nigrosuturaleJacquet, 1930 Calosoma nigroaeneumPolentz, 1937

Calosoma sycophanta, the forest caterpillar hunter, is a species of ground beetle belonging to the family Carabidae.

Calosoma sycophanta, male and female. Mounted specimen

Subspecies and varietas

• Calosoma sycophanta var. severum Chaudoir, 1850
• Calosoma sycophanta var. nigrocyaneum Letzner, 1850
• Calosoma sycophanta var. marginatum Letzner, 1850
• Calosoma sycophanta var. azureum Letzner, 1850
• Calosoma sycophanta var. purpureoaureum Letzner, 1850
• Calosoma sycophanta var. cupreum Letzner, 1850
• Callipara sycophanta rapax Motschoulsky, 1865
• Calosoma sycophanta var. smaragdinum Rossi, 1882
• Calosoma sycophanta var. habelmanni Schilsky, 1888
• Calosoma sycophanta var. purpuripenne Reitter, 1891
• Calosoma sycophanta prasinum Lapouge, 1907
• Calosoma sycophanta var. lapougei Breuning, 1927
• Calosoma sycophanta nigrosuturale Jaquet, 1930
• Calosoma sycophanta nigroaeneum Polentz, 1937

^[2]

Description

Calosoma sycophanta can reach a length of about 21–35 millimetres (0.83–1.38 in). This large ground beetle has characteristic metallic bright green elytra, while scutellum is metallic bluish. The head is black. These colours have iridescent shades that change (green, blue, bronze, copper, gold black) according to the direction and quality of light. Pronotum is transverse shaped, posteriorly sharply narrowed, wrinkled and punctured. Elytra are flattened with clearly visible punctures in the striae. ^[2]

Behavior

This ground beetle is a voracious consumer of caterpillars (especially Lymantria dispar , Thaumetopoea processionea , Thaumetopoea pityocampa and Euproctis chrysorrhoea ) during both its larval stage and as an adult. ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}

As a predator the species has been researched for the effect of its predation upon the caterpillars with microsporidian pathogens, finding a preference for Vairimorpha disparis infected larva. ^[7]

Distribution

This species is native to Europe. It is present in most European countries, in the eastern Palearctic realm, in the Nearctic realm, in the Near East, and in North Africa. ^[8] In 1905 it was imported to New England for control of the gypsy moth. ^[3]

Gallery

• 
  Adult of Calosoma sycophanta preying on a caterpillar of Lymantria dispar
• 
  Calosoma sycophanta, larva
• 
  Calosoma sycophanta larva eating a Lymantria dispar larva
• 
  Calosoma sycophanta, pupa

References

1. Biolib
2. Calosoma of the world
3. Ground Beetles Archived 2009-05-14 at the Wayback Machine , Susan Mahr, University of Wisconsin–Madison]
4. Hermann Burmeister Anatomical Observations upon the Larva of Calosoma sycophanta
5. Cookies on Invasive Species Compendium
6. Arthur V. Evans The Forest Caterpillar Hunter, Calosoma sycophanta Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
7. Goertz, D.; Hoch, G. (2013). "Influence of the forest caterpillar hunter Calosoma sycophanta on the transmission of microsporidia in larvae of the gypsy moth Lymantria dispar". Agricultural and Forest Entomology. 15 (2): 178–186. doi:10.1111/afe.12000. PMC   3688323 . PMID   23794950.
8. Fauna Europaea

• Media related to Calosoma sycophanta at Wikimedia Commons
• Data related to Calosoma sycophanta at Wikispecies