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Sticker of Blue ground beetle
Bug card No. 0152 of 1,500

Blue ground beetle

Carabus intricatus

The blue ground beetle is a big beetle that shines purple and blue like metal. Its wing cases are bumpy and rough. It hunts at night in damp, mossy woods.

Lives in
Europe, in damp woods with old mossy logs
Length
2.4 to 3.5 cm (0.94 to 1.4 in)
Top speed
about 1.7 km/h (1.1 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people, but like other big ground beetles it may pinch if you grab it. Just watch it.
What does it eat?
It hunts slugs at night. Scientists found that it likes slugs best of all.
For real!Photo of Blue ground beetle
Picture by URSchmidt. CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Blue ground beetle about 3.5 cm long (1.4 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 6 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 2.1 seconds

How big is Blue ground beetle compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It cannot fly, because its back wings are too small.

2

In Britain people thought it had died out, but in 1994 it was found again near Dartmoor.

3

In tests it also liked liver, dog food and crab sticks.

4

It hides under bark on dead wood and under rocks during the day.

5

The grown-up beetles can live for a long time.

you asked

Most asked questions about Blue ground beetle

?What does the blue ground beetle eat?

Mostly slugs, which it hunts at night.

?How big is the blue ground beetle?

It is big for a beetle, about 2.5 to 3.5 centimetres long.

?Is the blue ground beetle rare?

Yes, in Britain it is very rare and lives in only a few places.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Carabus intricatus
Named by
Linnaeus, 1761
Group
Beetles
Family
Carabidae
Classification
Insecta > Coleoptera > Carabidae
Lives on
Europe

Where the facts come from

  1. Carabus intricatus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by URSchmidt. CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

More from the same group: Beetles

Also at home here: Forests and woods