Carabus intricatus

Taxobox
name = "Carabus intricatus"

---

status = LR/nt
status_system = IUCN2.3
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Coleoptera
familia = Carabidae
genus = "Carabus"
species = "C. intricatus"
binomial = "Carabus intricatus"
binomial_authority = Linnaeus, 1761
synonyms =

"Carabus intricatus" is a species of beetle in family Carabidae. It is found in Albania, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and possibly Slovakia.

A large beetle (24-35mm in length), with a metallic purple or blue, roughly surfaced elytras - second pair of wings (which is used by insects for flying) under the elytras is reduced. It was only recorded three times in the twenty years prior to 1993 and was considered extinct in Britain until a specimen was found in 1994en iconcite web |url=http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/invertebrates_terrestrial_and_freshwater/Carabus_intricatus/more_info.html |title="ARKive: Carabus intricatus",] .

"C. intricatus" are nocturnal carnivores, and tests have shown they prefer a certain species of slugs from Limax genus, especially "Limax marginatus". They were also found to have a taste for liver, dog food and crabsticks.In the wild, the adults are found under bark on deadwood, and under rocks. It does not requite ground vegetation, and likes damp, rotten, moss-covered wood.

The beetles seem to be active throughout the year and a fully-grown larva has been found in summer. This specimen also ate slugs prior to pupating, and emerged as an adult some three weeks later. It is thought that it may take two years to complete its life cycle. The adults are very long-lived.

Sources

* World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1996. [http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/3845/all "Carabus intricatus"] . [http://www.iucnredlist.org 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. ] Downloaded on 09 August 2007.

Notes and external links

* [http://www.biolib.cz/cz/taxon/id4/ Photo gallery]