Carabids News

Kataev 2023 - a new classification of genus Harpalus

Includes several changes involving the Nearctic fauna, with some species placed in newly described subgenera.

PDF is available for download (as of 7 September 2023) from this link: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/9/971

… Curt Harden, 7 September, 2023 - 12:00pm

Eventual adjustments to Harpalus taxonomy on BugGuide.

Not sure how technically challenging this will be. Hopefully someone interested with lots of free time can do it. Thank you Curt for this interesting carabid update.

… Peter W. Messer, 7 September, 2023 - 3:26pm

Promecognathus crassus has tolerance to cyanide!

Promecognathus crassus

has a significant tolerance to cyanide, so it can hunt and eat a millipede like Xystocheir dissecta
Read about here
Fantastic video here

… Iustin Cret, 4 May, 2019 - 8:55am

Fascinating!

Thank you Iustin once again for another news alert regarding the mysterious world of the Ground Beetles. This one is especially meaningful as I have pinned specimens of western Promecognathus crassus in my reference collection. I had assumed that the long mandibles were used for reaching far inside snail shells (like Scaphinotus). However, Larochelle & Lariviere (2003) in their "A Natural History of the Ground-Beetles" cite only millipedes as their food source. So now I know that the scissors-like mandibles are used rather exclusively for decapitating millipedes. The beetle's natural resistance to millipede's cyanide is a bonus fact.

… Peter W. Messer, 4 May, 2019 - 12:20pm

Exploring West Indies ...

guided by Selenophori group! If you dare, embarking here (1)
Him ... I'm a little disappointed.
I was hoping to meet again with Selenophorus trepidus ...
Why? Well, birthplace of Selenophorus trepidus is in extreme South Florida, more exactly: Cape Sable, Monroe County, Florida, according of his birth certificate signed by Casey in 1924. And West Indies encompass South Florida ... but Selenophorus trepidus is absent from this exotic journey.
Or maybe I did not understand something well or who knows whatelse ... But I have an excuse, these Selenophorus guides ... look pretty much the same for the eyes of an amateur traveler.

… Iustin Cret, 16 August, 2017 - 7:16pm

Thank you Iustin for alerting us

to the review of Caribbean Selenophori, an important paper which I've long anticipated. An update of the Selenophorus trepidus species page at BugGuide explains that the Texas population is an undescribed species near S. trepidus which co-author Brian Raber and I will address in a forthcoming review of Nearctic Selenophorus. This was a recent revelation and I'm sorry for not getting back to you earlier about it. Authors usually include southernmost peninsular Florida and its island keys with the West Indian fauna. In the case of S. trepidus however, there are no known records beyond southern Florida.

The paper by Shpeley et al reports one new species found in North America (southern Florida) and throughout much of the West Indies: Selenophorus fabricii Shpeley, Hunting, & Ball 2017. Mistaken for S. integer in the past, S. fabricii is now included in the post-2012 Caraboid Registry. True S. integer is altogether a different species, so it is removed from the North American checklist.

… Peter W. Messer, 16 August, 2017 - 9:48pm

The first ground beetle from Antarctica!

... well it is just a fossil elytra but it is a ground beetle and it has an ID: Antarctotrechus balli - new genus and species.
Full article here

… Iustin Cret, 23 November, 2016 - 11:02pm

Taxonomic review of New World Tachyina

(1)

… Iustin Cret, 21 October, 2016 - 12:08am

Good to learn how the North American Tachyina

are distinguished from closely related taxa in the rest of the New World. Thank you Iustin for alerting us to this excellent taxonomic publication which instantly became a printout for my carabid library.

… Peter W. Messer, 21 October, 2016 - 11:45am

74 newly described

from Hawaii, Maui Island, Haleakalā mountain
The Mecyclothorax beetles of Haleakala

… Iustin Cret, 15 December, 2015 - 9:01pm

A new one

from China: Oodinotrechus yinae

… Iustin Cret, 15 December, 2015 - 8:46am

Fantastic!

more to come from that area, surely..

… Curt Harden, 15 December, 2015 - 9:32am

A time traveler and her message

This year in July, a new species of Carabidae has been described: Coptodera elektra.
Based on a single specimen. A female, preserved in a piece of Baltic amber. She lived in Eocene, millions of years ago ...
Who is she? A Carabidae Eve? If you want to know read, here (1)
Curious, I can see the characters of Carabidae family, although distance of millions of years separate her from the Carabidae of our time. You can even compare with

Her message? Well, maybe we'll know the message when the experts will decipher.
Millions of years! Do we have time to understand what this means ?!

… Iustin Cret, 1 November, 2015 - 1:57pm

How to wrap your head around "One Million Years".

I've been tempted for a long time to purchase online a "One Million Dots" poster. After digesting such a poster for a while by zooming in here and there, it's not a far reach to correlate each dot with one earth cycle around the sun. If money and home storage are not obstacles, you could claim control of "One Billion" with a stack of one thousand such posters.

… Peter W. Messer, 1 November, 2015 - 5:34pm

We would always give the students an exercise

which asked how long it would take to count to a billion saying each number. Allowing that counting would take place 24 hours a day, it would take about a hundred years!

… john and jane balaban, 1 November, 2015 - 7:00pm

The old books of Carabids

Many jewelry works of the mind of humanity are sleeping in dusty and forgotten shelves. Miraculously some of these works are brought to our attention in the virtual space. They are brought here by a new category of time explorers and treasure hunters, those who digitises the old books. A big thanks to these explorers of XXI century.

So, for the lovers of 'Old books' an interesting work about genus Calosoma. I don't know how much changes was brought in modern taxonomy but I think this book still has a high value even if it is almost 100 years ago when the book was published. Many details about life of this beetles and others interesting things.
"The Genus Calosoma, including studies of seasonal histories, habit and economic importance of american species North of Mexico and of several introduced species" - by A.F.Burgess and C.O.Collins
Published by United States Department of Agriculture, Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology, July 25, 1917, Washington D.C.

It can be download PDF for yours digital library.

… Iustin Cret, 15 February, 2015 - 4:49pm

Burgess 1917 on Calosoma

is new to me. I thought it to be a very interesting historical paper loaded with bionomic/taxonomic information and graphics. I was thrilled to add the PDF to my ground beetle library. Thanks I.

… Peter W. Messer, 18 February, 2015 - 4:16pm

A new article published by Pensoft about Tiger Beetles

The Maghreb - one more important biodiversity hot spot for tiger beetle fauna (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Cicindelinae) in the Mediterranean region - by Radomir Jaskula
ZooKeys 482: 35-53 (12 February 2015)
doi: 10.3897 / zookeys.482.8831

… Iustin Cret, 12 February, 2015 - 11:29pm

Strange Carabids (1)

Here
a spectacular carabid, Guyanemorpha spectabilis from French Guiana ...

- - -
It belong to Tribe Pseudomorphini, a weird tribe of carabids which look like a cockroach and, if not all, many are living with ants.
Well looking like cockroach is one, but many, if not all, are ovoviviparous!
That means that the females hatch the eggs inside of their body.
But this is the case in cockroaches, too! Just a coincidence?
I think that for this bizarre coincidence only the experts can give or find an explanation.
- - -

... one years ago on Smithsonian Science net page, was published a very nice interview with Dr.Terry Erwin. A perfect introduction for amateurs in the secrets life of these strange tribe, the Pseudomorphini Tribe.
Well I don't say anything more, and I leave you the pleasure to enjoy the interview.
Here:
http://smithsonianscience.org/2014/01/new-ant-nest-beetle-species-named-by-smithsonian-entomologists-qa-with-terry-erwin/

--------
For those who know and have already read the article, a problem to be solved.
One problem with ants and carabids, of course.
How can you sift an ant hill, full of thousand and thousand of ants, to find a carabid? Especially a very small carabid, on the size of one ant, or less. If you think it is easy try to disturb an ant hill and you will see why is the difficult.
Well I don't know the solution but I know why the problem is difficult. Or even dangerous in the case for an ant hill of Red imported fire ants.

-------
I need to thanks to Peter. One of his comment on forum remember me about my intention to open a column for "Strange Carabids" on Carabid News. Thanks Peter.

… Iustin Cret, 16 January, 2015 - 8:14pm

A New Tiger Beetle

Cicindelidia melissa Duran & Roman, sp. n.
A new species of tiger beetle from southeastern Arizona and Mexico (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Cicindelini) - by Daniel P. Duran, Stephen J. Roman - Pensoft Publishers, ZooKeys, 16 December 2014.
http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=4338
Can be download PDF.

… Iustin Cret, 10 January, 2015 - 5:55pm

Vegetarian behaviour on Tiger Beetles (Carabidae: Cicindelinae)

In 'Studies on the Biology and Population Dynamics of Tiger Beetle, Cicindela japonica (Thunberg)' , Kyoto University 1982, in the list of food (Appendix 2) for Cicindela japonica (Appendix 2), M.Hori mentions, quote: "Mallotus japonicus (fruit almost spoiled on the ground)"
The article,PDF, (further down in English) here.

In 'Frugivory in the tiger beetle, Cicindela repanda (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae)' Coleopterists Bulletin, 463: 306-310, 1992, James M.Hill and C.Barry Knisley add a second species on the list of Tiger Beetles fruit eater. They mention that Cicindela repanda feeds on fallen fruits of Sassafras sp, Phytollaca sp and Euonymus americanus.
Abstract of this article, here. (Unfortunately, I have not found the full article free on the net.)

Now, not really a new news, rather a relatively new, but perhaps less known.
In 2013, Radomir Jascula add another Tiger Beetle with vegetarian behavior. This time an European Tiger Beetle: Calomera littoralis nemoralis. And his food is really strange, quote: "grains of maize (Zea mays) and boiled peaces of macaroni".
The article 'Unexpected Vegetarian Feeding Behaviour of a Predatory Tiger Beetle Calomera littoralis nemoralis (Olivier, 1790) (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae)' by Radomir Jascula, J.Entomol.Res.Soc., 15(1): 01-06, 2013, can be read here.
(Click on View will open a window for full text. From this window the article can be download PDF, button on top, right.)

About the source of maize (corn) grains on the beach where this behavior was noted.
I don't know the habit on the seaside beaches in Albania but, by analogy, I suppose that the source it is boiled corn.
In some parts of Eastern Europe, on the beaches is sold boiled corn. It happens in the season in which the corn is good for boiling.
In article the observation was made on 30 July 2011 and this date corresponds of the season in which this boiled corn is sold.
This corn is somewhat different from the one you can find here in South Texas, in the food store. There is preferred the corn a little more ripe, but the corn grains are still milky. It is more yellow and has a more intense taste and flavor. The texture is more harsh, but some prefer so. With a little salt.
About macaroni (pasta). No idea to be eat on the beach like habit. Maybe some tourists, but I never seen this.

… Iustin Cret, 3 January, 2015 - 12:15am

dozens of Kirill's beetle photos in the Guide, too

look here
he even photographs some species for BG upon my request; last week i sent him a long wishlist of holarctic beetle spp. not yet in the guide; hope he finds time to take the pics despite his heavy teaching load. (too bad i always have to resize his pics to meet BG's uploading limits.)
he also routinely shares images of various tiny oddities from around the world, just for fun.
you can see hundreds of his pics of Palaearctic beetles at(1)

… v belov, 12 December, 2014 - 7:22pm

Thank you I. & V.

for your well-appreciated attention to ground beetle contributions here at BugGuide! For me it's all about beholding their morphologic beauty and the desire to assign names, much less about their natural histories. The habitus photography in the cases cited above rise to the rank of lovely works of art in my opinion.

… Peter W. Messer, 3 January, 2015 - 7:44am

Thank you.

For the information. Amazing photos. Bookmarked.

… Lisa I., 13 December, 2014 - 1:07am

It doesn't surprise me that t

It doesn't surprise me that tiger beetles can on occasion be vegetarian. Banana is a great bait for Scaphinotus. I've yet to try it on Cicindela, Omus or Amblycheila but wouldn't be surprised if it works.

… Todd Lawton, 7 January, 2015 - 8:40pm