Carabus variolosus
Pit beetle ( Carabus variolosus )
The pit beetle ( Carabus variolosus ) is a kind of genuine beetle ( Carabus ).
Features
The pit beetle reaches a body length of 20-33 millimeters, and thus one of the large species of beetle in Europe. His body is completely black in color and slightly glossy. The wing covers ( elytra ) and the pronotum are conspicuous provided with large and deep pits, whereby there is no risk of confusion with other beetle species. Another artkennzeichnende features bristle-carrying fillet points exist and the side edge of the elytra has at the front of some fine, saw-like notches.
Dissemination
The beetle is very rare to find and comes almost exclusively only in the southeastern Central Europe and Southeastern Europe before. Previously he was also found in the low mountain ranges of northern Central Europe, there is but mostly extinct. The occurrence of central Europe include a separate subspecies to (C. variolosus nodulosus ), which is regarded by some authors as a separate species. The nominate (C. variolosus variolosus ) has its range in Eastern Europe.
Way of life
The pit beetles is highly adapted to wet habitats of the forest and is accordingly mainly in swamp forests and marshes source and on the banks of forest streams. He wintered in rotten deadwood.
He hunts like the shore - beetle ( Carabus clatratus ) under water for snails, small crustaceans, insects and their larvae, tadpoles and even small fish. He is a fresh air supply under the elytra. The larvae are able to hunt under water, and feed on water beetle larvae.
Threats and conservation
Since the beetle is very strongly tied to moist forest habitats, it is mainly threatened by the decline and the draining of wetlands and pushed back. This makes it regionally rare and is found nationally in many European countries under protection. He is also out since the EU enlargement in Annex II of the Fauna-Flora -Habitat Directive ( FFH Directive ), so that protected areas are to be reported to him by the Member States of the EU.