#carabid

i encountered these guys on a walk through a nearby wooded foothill last summer and the way they looked and moved intrigued me. I spent some time then trying to figure out what they were but didn’t make much headway. today I remembered them and was stricken by the need to Know. I’ve narrowed it with a fair degree of certainty to Ground Beetle Nymph. I’ve narrowed it with less certainty to carabid.

for geographical context, this is in the miyagi prefecture in Japan and the picture was taken in midsummer. the critter in question is somewhere between 2-4 cm in length and has a relatively hard exoskeleton. seems to be carnivorous from the way they were swarming the cicada carcass. legs pretty well tucked under the body and when they moved it was almost like a tadpole. the front seemed to move independent of the back, which then followed suit.

this may or may not gum things up, but these adult beetles were within eyeshot of these nymphs

part.. seven i think??

Three Carabid (aka Ground) beetles.  What makes these special is that the three of them are all new state records for Maryland, collected by Brent Steury during a survey of Cove Point Liquid Natural Gas.  There are many species of these small little ground beetles.    So much to do.

Anisodactylus haplomus

Stenocrepis mexicana

Pterostichus permundus

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Photography Information:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY

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this one on its own