David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital
Video Images
___________________________________________________________________________________________ Beetles 36 – Forest Caterpillar-hunter Beetles
FOREST
CATERPILLAR-HUNTER BEETLE Calosoma sycophanta
FOREST
CATERPILLAR-HUNTER BEETLE Calosoma sycophanta
FOREST
CATERPILLAR-HUNTER BEETLE Calosoma sycophanta
FOREST
CATERPILLAR-HUNTER BEETLE Calosoma sycophanta
FOREST CATERPILLAR-HUNTER BEETLE Calosoma sycophanta
·
Forest
Caterpillar-hunter Beetles Calosoma sycophanta are great allies
of foresters in Continental Europe as these ground beetles (by name only as
they spend much of their time climbing trees!) are voracious predators of the
larvae of moths responsible for the defoliation of Oaks Quercus spp.
and other significant woodland trees. They are also rather beautiful insects. Their
prey includes the larvae of the prolific and very damaging Gypsy Moth Lymantria
dispar and Oak Processionary Moth Thaumetopoea processionea,
both of which can cause significant irritation to human skin and therefore pose
a public health problem. These photographs were taken in the South of France at
a location where both predator and prey were common. It is not known if this
beetle also predates the larvae of the equally damaging alien Box Moth Cydalima perspectalis
– but it would be much appreciated by horticulturalists if it did. Technically
the Gipsy Moth is a native insect in the UK as it has bred sporadically in the
past, but the Oak Processionary Moth (often abbreviated to ‘OPM’) is a recent
arrival. As both of these moths have recently become well-established at sites
in London (where the latter is being controlled by biological means that pose
no threat to other wildlife) there must be some possibility of this beetle
(currently an uncommon, localised inhabitant with only one confirmed UK breeding
population) becoming more widely established in the future in response to food
availability and the warming climate - if it is not artificially introduced
beforehand in an attempt to biologically control these invasive moths. A full
account of the status of this beetle may be found here on the UK Beetles
web site: https://www.ukbeetles.co.uk/calosoma-sycophanta.
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