Carabus gigas

Carabus gigas is a species of beetles of the family Carabidae.

Carabus gigas
Carabus gigas male and female, at National Museum (Prague)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Coleoptera
Family:
Carabidae
Genus:
Carabus
Division: Carabus div. Multistriati
Subdivision: Carabus subdiv. Procrustimorphi
Subgenus:
Carabus (Procerus)
Species:
C. gigas
Binomial name
Carabus gigas
Creutzer, 1799
Synonyms
  • Carabus (Procerus) gigas
  • Procerus gigas[1]

Description

Carabus gigas is the largest European ground beetle, reaching a length of about 40–70 millimetres (1.6–2.8 in). The upper surface is black and glossy. The elytrtra are oval, strongly convex and covered with about 15 rows of more or less small tubercles. Also the pronotum has a granular surface. The adults reach the age of 3 years or more. These beetles primarily feed on snails.

Distribution

This species is endemic to Europe and occurs in South-East Europe and in Central Europe, the range extends into Styria and Carinthia. It is observed in Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, mainland Greece, Hungary, mainland Italy, North Macedonia, Romania, Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Slovenia.

Habitat

Carabus gigas lives in moist and subalpine highlands.

Subspecies
  • Carabus g. duponcheli, Dejean, 1831 (Southern Greece)
  • Carabus g. parnassicus, Kraatz, 1884 (Greece, North Macedonia, southern Albania)
  • Illustration of Carabus gigas from Carl Gustav Calwer and Gustav Jäger, "Naturgeschichte der Käfer Europas" (1876), Table 1, Picture 13.
  • In Mehedinți Mountains, Romania

References
  1. Carabus gigas, biolib.cz


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