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BugGuide Gathering
Pack Forest
Washington State
July 10-12, 2009
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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Ground and Water Beetles (Adephaga) » Ground Beetles (Carabidae) » Carabinae » Cychrini » Scaphinotus

Genus Scaphinotus

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

snail or slug hunter - Scaphinotus angusticollis

Unknown Mating Carabids - Scaphinotus - male - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Adephaga (Ground and Water Beetles)

Family Carabidae (Ground Beetles)

Subfamily Carabinae

Tribe Cychrini

Genus Scaphinotus

Other Common Names

Snail Eaters, Boat-backed Ground Beetles

Numbers

49 spp. north of Mexico(1)

Size

13-33 mm, most 20-25

Identification

Medium to large beetles with long, slender mandibles. Pronotum rather flared. Compare to closely related Sphaeroderus and Cychrus. For a key to genera of Cychrini go here.

Range

North America

Habitat

Mostly forests, under logs, rocks, in leaf litter.

Season

May-November (south), June-September (north)

Food

Feed on snails, slugs. Mandibles specially adapted for insertion into opening of a snail's shell.

Life Cycle

Nocturnal. Eggs typically laid under debris late spring/early summer. Overwinters as a larva, pupates in spring. May also overwinter as adult.

Print References

Ciegler, pp. 30-33 (2)

Dillon, p. 63, plate VI (3)

Papp, pp. 46-47, figs. 130 (fig. 130 is listed in error), 132 (4)

White, p. 88, fig. 28 (5)

Arnett et al. p. 73, fig. 194A, B (6)

Milne, p. 540, fig. 203 (7)

Brimley, p. 114 (8)

Internet References

Photo of S. guyoti

Info on S. angulatus

Ground Beetles of Canada

Works Cited

1.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico By Ross H. Arnett

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

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

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

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

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

7.	National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders By Lorus and Margery Milne

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

Contributed by Cotinis on 1 November, 2004 - 6:48am
Additional contributions by Peter Messer, v belov
Last updated 7 December, 2009 - 8:52pm

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