Carabus violaceus

Gold bar ( Carabus violaceus )

The gold bar, the Violet ground beetle or Violettrandige ground beetles ( Carabus violaceus ) is a beetle of the family of ground beetles ( Carabidae ).

Features

The beetles reach a body length from 22 to 35 millimeters and have a highly variable coloration and surface structure. They are colored black at the edges of the pronotum and elytra ( elytra ) is usually a red-violet, blue or blue-green hem recognizable. The finely wrinkled pronotum is usually larger area colored in one of these colors. The elytra are elongated, oval and finely grained. Some specimens have fine ribs on them, which are separated by rows of dots. The antennae and legs are black. The penultimate section of the labial palps has more than two bristles, the similar Smooth beetles (C. glabratus ) has only two such bristles.

Occurrence

The animals arrive almost anywhere in Europe, north of the Arctic Circle before and are common to eastern Siberia and Japan in Asia. To the southwest, their distribution extends to the Pyrenees. The type has a strong tendency to the formation of subspecies. The individual geographically separate subspecies were isolated in the Ice Age and have since evolved separately. At their distribution limits (eg Rhine ) they cross. The two main groups in Central Europe, the eastern violaceus group with laterally compressed shape and unstriped elytra and purpurascens group that represents the western subspecies, and the narrower and elongated, and their elytra are slightly striped. They live in open forests, meadows and along the coast, occasionally they also occur in gardens. They can be found from June to August of deep layers up to the mountains.

Way of life

The adults as well as their larvae are active at dawn and hunt on the forest floor. They capture both juvenile amphibians such as young salamander, as well as snails, insects and spiders. However, they also eat fresh carrion and fungi. Gladly, the animals hide under moss and stones. After three molts, the larva pupates in a hole in the ground. Against the moisture of the soil, the doll has developed a special protective adaptation. On her back are long, stiff bristles that prevent the doll comes in direct contact with the ground. Overwintering takes place both in the larval stage, as well as adult beetles.