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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Adephaga » Ground Beetles (Carabidae) » Carabinae » Cychrini » Scaphinotus

Genus Scaphinotus

Classification · Other Common Names · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Works Cited

Scaphinotus angusticollis? - Scaphinotus angusticollis - female

Scaphinotus- marginatus? - Scaphinotus marginatus

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 Cychrini

Genus Scaphinotus

Other Common Names

Snail Eaters, Boat-backed Ground Beetles

Explanation of Names

Scaphinotus Dejean 1826

Numbers

55 spp. in 9 subgenera total, all in our area(1)

Size

7-33 mm, most 20-25 mm

Identification

key to genera of Cychrini here

key to SC spp. in(2)

key to Mid-Atlantic species in(3)

Range

precinctive to NA(4)

Habitat

Mostly forests, though some species occur in open habitats. Many eastern species are regular climbers of trees at night. (5)

Season

May-Nov (south), Jun-Sep (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.

Works Cited

1.	Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico Bousquet Y. 2012. ZooKeys 245: 1–1722.

2.	Ground Beetles and Wrinkled Bark Beetles of South Carolina Janet Ciegler. 2000. Clemson University.

3.	Illustrated Key and Photo Atlas of the Snail-eating Ground Beetles of the Genus Scaphinotus Dejean ... C.W. Harden and F.G. Guarnieri. 2017. The Maryland Entomologist Vol 7, Num 1, pp16-34.

4.	American Beetles, Volume I: Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga, Polyphaga: Staphyliniformia Arnett, R.H., Jr., and M. C. Thomas. (eds.). 2000. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.

5.	A natural history of the ground-beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) of America north of Mexico. Larochelle and Larivière. 2003. Pensoft Publishers, Bulgaria. 584 pp.

Contributed by Cotinis on 1 November, 2004 - 6:48am
Additional contributions by Peter Messer, v belov, Thrasher
Last updated 8 December, 2017 - 10:07pm

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