Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Calosoma sycophanta - Caterpillar Searcher

Forest Caterpillar Hunter Calosoma sycophanta - Calosoma sycophanta Forest Caterpillar Hunter - Calosoma sycophanta - Calosoma sycophanta Forest Caterpillar Hunter - Calosoma sycophanta - Calosoma sycophanta Metallic Green Beetle carrying egg - Calosoma sycophanta
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Adephaga
Family Carabidae (Ground Beetles)
Subfamily Carabinae
Tribe Carabini
Genus Calosoma (Caterpillar Hunter Beetles)
No Taxon (Subgenus Calosoma)
Species sycophanta (Caterpillar Searcher)
Other Common Names
Forest Caterpillar Hunter
Explanation of Names
Calosoma sycophanta (Linnaeus 1758)
Range
native to w. Palaearctic (east to Siberia)(1); introduced intentionally and established in e.US (so.ME-MD-WV-w.PA)(2)
Food
Gypsy moth larvae and pupae are especially attractive but they will feed on other species of insects.(3)
Life Cycle
Adults spend winter in the soil. Emerge in June and hunt for spongy moth caterpillars (Lymantria dispar). Its life history is closely synchronized with that of spongy moths and this is why it is thought that it is not likely to cause damage to other caterpillars.

Larvae pupate in the ground.(3)
Remarks
Introduced in 1905 to control spongy moth (Lymantria dispar) and Euproctis chrysorrhoea(2)
See Also
C. aurocinctum (restricted to TX)
Internet References
Fact sheet (U. of Wisconsin)
Works Cited
1.Coleoptera Poloniae
2.Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico
Bousquet Y. 2012. ZooKeys 245: 1–1722.
3.Eastern Forest Insects
Whiteford L. Baker. 1972. U.S. Department of Agriculture · Forest Service.