Carabus (Tachypus) cancellatus cancellatus (Illiger, 1798)

Family: Carabidae

Size 17 - 30 mm. The upper side is metallic, copper or green. The first segment of the antennae is red. The femur can be either red or, like the underside and the rest of the appendages, black. The first rib at the seam is weak and disappears before the end of the elytra. The ends of the elytra are, especially in the female, toothed.

It occurs mainly in lowlands and lower mountain altitudes. Adults can be found from April to September. It mainly inhabits fields and gardens, rarely the edges of forests. It hunts mainly at night, but after rain on warm, windless days it can also be found during the day on field roads. It is a predator that feeds on various insects, earthworms, snails and the like. It runs very fast, it can cover one meter in just 6 seconds. When in danger, it squirts its sharp gastric juice at a distance of up to 25 cm. Adults usually live until August.

The black, elongated and very mobile larvae are the same predators as the adult beetle, and they mature quickly, so the beetles can have two generations in a year. The second generation remains overwintering in the ground and emerges only in the spring.