| Licinus hoffmannseggi (Panzer, 1797) |
|
|
|
Scientific name: Licinus hoffmannseggi (Panzer, 1797) Common name: French name: Order: Coleoptera Family: Carabidae Wingspan : 9.5 to 15 mm. Biotope: Damp forests with old trees, in particular forests with beeches in mountain areas. Geographic area: Western Europe and Central Europe. Observation period : |
Ground beetles of the Licinus genus show a dark coloured body measuring at least 9.5 mm and without a very thin waist. The elytra are superficially striated and cover completely the abdomen except sometimes a small part of the last segment. They are not covered with hairs. They show each at least 11 regularly spaced ridges with a fine punctuation between. The thorax is rather large, indented at the front with sharp fore angles. It shows rounded hind angles. The antennae are thread-like and do not exceed half of the body length. Licinus hoffmannseggi is rather a shiny black colour. The ridges on the elytra are deep and the space between is clearly convex. The punctuation between the ridges is very small and hardly visible. The antennae are covered with short and dense hairs starting from the fourth article. The two first articles of the fore tarsi are strongly enlarged on males. Licinus hoffmannseggi feeds in particular on snails and it is able to cut their shell. |
| [To know more about the Licinus hoffmannseggi] [Next picture] [Top] |
|
I have observed this ground beetle on the north wall of the house. There is no mountain in the neighbourhood of the western suburb of Paris. However we are closed to a woodland edge with mainly Oaks and Chestnut trees. You need to walk two kilometres to find Beeches. |
| [To know more about the Licinus hoffmannseggi] [Next picture] [Previous picture] [Top] |
|
This side view shows a flattened silhouette. The fore tarsi which are not enlarged indicate one female. |
| [To know more about the Licinus hoffmannseggi] [Previous picture] [Top] |
|
I have measured a size of 11 mm. |
André Bon July 2018