Ground beetle

   Ground beetle is any insect belonging to the family Carabidae, the most important family of predaceous insects. These beetles are most frequently seen at night, when they run about searching for other insects upon which they prey. During the day they hide beneath stones or some other cover. Ground beetles closely resemble darkling beetles of the family Tenebrionidae but differ in having five-jointed tarsi.
   The antennae of the ground beetles are threadlike and the wing covers are often ridged longitudinally. Although most of these beetles are a shiny black or brown color, a few are blue and green. A very com­mon and beautiful ground beetle, Calosoma scrutator, the searcher, has greenish wing covers edged with red, and the remainder of the body is gold, green, blue, and copper. Among the most important ground beetles are C. sycophanta, commonly found in Europe and introduced into the United States to combat the gypsy moth and brown-tail moth; Harpalus caliginosus, a large and common species of the United States; Poecilus Iucublandus of northeastern United States; and the bombardier beetles.