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Project Noah Nature School
Calosoma scrutator
Also known as a Caterpillar Hunter. Large beetle (a little over an inch in length) with metallic green wing covers. The pronotum is iridescent blue with an orange border. They have large, powerful mandibles for gripping and eviscerating their prey, which mainly consists of insect larvae (caterpillars being their specialty, hence the name) and other soft-bodied inverts.
Found in our basement! We kept this one overnight and fed it a dermestid beetle larva, which it happily ate. It was released by our rock wall, which was covered in gypsy moth caterpillars. I'm sure he'll be happy there! I noticed it produced a buzzing noise frequently while in our care. Probably a form of communication. Not sure how this noise was produced. (Wings? Simple vibration?)
Spotted on Jul 6, 2013
Submitted on Jul 6, 2013
1 Comment
nice !!