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BugGuide Gathering
Smoky Mountains
University of Tennessee Biological Field Station
August 8-10, 2008

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Photos from the 2007 gathering in Minnesota

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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Ground and Water Beetles (Adephaga) » Ground Beetles (Carabidae) » Harpalinae » Lebiini » Colorful Foliage Ground Beetles (Lebia)

Genus Lebia - Colorful Foliage Ground Beetles

Classification · Other Common Names · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

Colorful Foliage Ground Beetle - Lebia grandis

Lebia analis - darker example - Lebia analis

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Adephaga (Ground and Water Beetles)

Family Carabidae (Ground Beetles)

Subfamily Harpalinae

Tribe Lebiini

Genus Lebia (Colorful Foliage Ground Beetles)

Other Common Names

Flat Ground Beetles

Explanation of Names

Author of genus is Latreille, 1802. Perhaps from Latin lebes -etis, a bronze pan, basin. The colorful,wide, elytra resemble a basin? (Latin dictionary).

From the Getty Museum, lebes: A large vessel used for mixing wine with water, the way that the Greeks normally drank their wine. It was also used to serve wine at the table.

Numbers

Nearctica.com lists 48 species.

Size

3-10 mm

Identification

Medium-sized or small ground beetles, with wide, flattened elytra.

Range

Much of North America

Habitat

Found on foliage and on ground.

Season

Typically late spring to mid-summer, and in fall. (Adults overwinter.) Two generations per year in south.

Food

Predatory on small insects.

Life Cycle

In summer, adults often active on foliage during the day--unusual for ground beetles. Some larvae parasiting on leaf beetle larvae.

See Also

Cymindis, Nemotarsus, genera in the same tribe.

Print References

Ciegler pp. 122-123 (1). Note errata, including part of key for this genus.

Dillon p. 106, plate XI (2)

Brimley p. 124 (3)

Papp p. 51, figs. 142-145 (4)

Arnett et al. p. 96, fig. 249--L. atrivetnris (5)

White, p. 92, fig. 30, plate 1--L. furcata (6)

Sikes, pp. 74-75 (7)

Internet References

Ground Beetles of Canada images of 14 Lebia species

Cornell Univ.--biological control

Insects of Cedar Creek images of 8 Lebia species

Beetles of Florida--lists a number of species, gives general range, synonyms.

Works Cited

1.	Ground Beetles and Wrinkled Bark Beetles of South Carolina By Janet Ciegler

2.	A Manual of Common Beetles of Eastern North America By Dillon, Elizabeth S., and Dillon, Lawrence

3.	Insects of North Carolina By C.S. Brimley

4.	Introduction to North American Beetles By Charles S. Papp

5.	How to Know the Beetles By Ross H. Arnett, N. M. Downie, H. E. Jaques

6.	Peterson Field Guides: Beetles By Richard E. White

7.	The Beetle Fauna of Rhode Island, an Annotated Checklist By Derek Sikes

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 8 March, 2005 - 2:45am
Additional contributions by cotinis
Last updated 25 April, 2007 - 9:27am

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