Broscus cephalotes

Head beetle ( Broscus cephalotes )

The head beetle, head rotor or large head ( Broscus cephalotes ) is a beetle of the family of ground beetles ( Carabidae ).

Features

The head beetle is 18 to 25 millimeters long and has a completely glossy black colored body, only the ends of the probe, legs and palpi are reddish. At the top you can see a light shining through red spot between the eyes. The head is relatively large and has strong mandibles, the antennae are short. The neck plate is tulip-shaped and runs on to the rear, the base is considerably narrower than the front edge. The elytra bear fine longitudinal rows of points, where the first row is however interrupted. The front legs that are modified to some extent to have grave legs. To the rails ( tibiae ) on top of a deep incision and bristled at both ends on the bottom of each one movable mandrel

Occurrence

The animals come into Europe, north to the middle of Scandinavia, and east to the Caucasus in the west of Siberia before. They are missing in southern Europe. They live especially on sandy soils, such as gravel and sand pits, fields, ruderal and on the coast.

Way of life

The adults dig 10 to 15 centimeters deep transitions in the ground, sometimes in a U -shaped and have two outputs. They hunt small insects at night. With danger, the beetles play dead ( Thanatose ) and spreading the legs and mandibles. The females lay their eggs in the fall in chambers that branch off laterally from the destruction of their dwellings. The resulting hatching larvae overwinter, the beetles hatch as early as next spring.