More urban species

[urbpan]

European ground beetle Carabus nemoralis

This large (7/8 inch) beetle with a variably iridescent pronotum can be a surprising find underneath a log or in garden debris. Like most ground beetles it is a predator on other invertebrates, and like most animals found in urban soil it is native to Europe. One wonders what the native soil fauna of the various coast of North America might have been, but that fact is lost to history. Soil ballast from European ships contained creatures that had already been living underneath cityfolks' shoes for centuries and was dumped on the shores of The Colonies. Overturn a log in Boston or New York and you will find animals native to London and Amsterdam. I would love to do a global survey, turning over logs and rocks in cities around the world and comparing them all.

I found this individual in Boston, outside the Tropical Forest exhibit in the Franklin Park Zoo.

Comments

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

Carabids are often very beautiful beetles, aren't they?

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

With that purple margin, I think nemoralis is even prettier than Calosoma scrutator.

[aemiis-zoo.livejournal.com]

So pretty.