Hungarian ground beetle (Carabus hungaricus)

Scientific classification:

Order: Coleoptera

Family: Carabidae

Genus: Carabus

Division: Carabus div. Multistriati

Subdivision: Carabus subdiv. Latitarsi

Subgenus: Carabus (Pachystus)

Species: Carabus hungaricus

Distribution:

The main distributional area is the Carpathian basin, but there are populations in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria too.

Habitat:

Sandy grasslands and dolomitic grasslands, but it occurs on post-agrarian fields.

Morphology:

The hungarian ground beetle's length is 22-28 mm. Black, and the head is densely dotted, the elytron densely granulated, slightly grossy. It has a wing cover with 3 rows of small pit, otherwise almost completely smooth. The last part of the lower mandibular palp is slightly shorter than the last before one.

Feeding:

The full-grown specimen and the larvae is predator too, eats little insects, slugs and worms. The insect's function of soil-protection is comes from that, in the balance of soil population the ground beetle's function is very important.

Reproduction:

Mating and egg-laying is taking place in late summer and early autumn. The larvaes can be first observed in early October, with a length of 1 cm. Most of the population survives the winter in the soil as larvae or imago form. In April and May only the overwintered adults and larvae are observed, the soft specimens hatches from the cocoons in June only.

Conservation status:

In Hungary the hungarian ground beetle is critically imperiled, the goodwill value is 100.000 Ft. The general factors which are threatening the habitat of the beetle: intensive trampling, excessive, especially sheep grazing, both legal and illegal waste disposal, the development of industrial areas and road networks (eg. the Audi factory in Győr, the planned expansion), the sand and gravel mining, technical sports (trail and quad), the afforestaion with wattle, cottonwood and black pines and the spontaneous afforestation.