ItalianTermiteMan
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2023
- Messages
- 146
Hello there!
Today i'll briefly tell you of the different techniques employed by two species of ground beetle found in Italy, Carabus (Procustes) coriaceus and Cychrus italicus, to achieve the same goal: to "get though" the shell of their favorite fare, snails.
Let's start with Carabus coriaceus:
This large species has a rather "brutish" approach to snail shells: simply breaking them up!
His large compact head and very stout and robust mandibles are very useful in this regard,
giving C. coriaceus the tools and "musclepower" to force his way to a delectable meal.
Fun fact: beside the absolutely huge members of the subgenus Procerus, this species is
among the largest and most physically massive of European ground beetles.
But some species prefer to employ more "finesse" to prey on snails...
This weird-looking fella is a Cychrus italicus. Note its very elongated head and thing straight
mandibles; these are not strong enough to crush their way trough snail shells, but this
species doesn't need to: thanks to its very streamlined build, it's capable to easily "stick"
its mandible, head and thorax inside their openings and feed on the occupant without
having to damage its defences. All Cychrus species that i know of employ this technique
to eat snails, C. italicus it's far from being the most physically adapted: at it just try to
google Cychrus cylindricollis!
Well folks, see you in the next post!
Today i'll briefly tell you of the different techniques employed by two species of ground beetle found in Italy, Carabus (Procustes) coriaceus and Cychrus italicus, to achieve the same goal: to "get though" the shell of their favorite fare, snails.
Let's start with Carabus coriaceus:
This large species has a rather "brutish" approach to snail shells: simply breaking them up!
His large compact head and very stout and robust mandibles are very useful in this regard,
giving C. coriaceus the tools and "musclepower" to force his way to a delectable meal.
Fun fact: beside the absolutely huge members of the subgenus Procerus, this species is
among the largest and most physically massive of European ground beetles.
But some species prefer to employ more "finesse" to prey on snails...
This weird-looking fella is a Cychrus italicus. Note its very elongated head and thing straight
mandibles; these are not strong enough to crush their way trough snail shells, but this
species doesn't need to: thanks to its very streamlined build, it's capable to easily "stick"
its mandible, head and thorax inside their openings and feed on the occupant without
having to damage its defences. All Cychrus species that i know of employ this technique
to eat snails, C. italicus it's far from being the most physically adapted: at it just try to
google Cychrus cylindricollis!
Well folks, see you in the next post!
Last edited:
