Brood XIX periodical cicadas were not the only insects appearing en masse last week at Sam A. Baker State Park in Missouri’s southeastern Ozark Highlands. As I walked the upland trail, I thought I felt ‘raindrops’ for awhile before realizing that it was frass. Little pieces of fresh young leaves littered the trail around me, and I realized that an outbreak of caterpillars was hammering the oak trees in this forest. Unlike the cicadas, which were encountered primarily in the bottomland forest along Big Creek, the rain of poop was restricted to the uplands. Not surprisingly, I saw caterpillar hunters, Calosoma spp. (family Carabidae—the real Carabidae, not the tiger beetle Carabidae that I’ve begrudgingly had to accept) about as abundantly as I’ve ever seen them. At first I didn’t notice them until I would scare one up, then spend several frustrating minutes trying to photograph a beetle that just would not stop running. I tried a few and gave up—after all, they’re just ground beetles (i.e., real ground beetles). Eventually, I realized that if I noticed them before they noticed me, I could sneak up on them and have my way with them (photographically speaking, that is). I even found that I could preen nearby leaves and sticks for composition if I did it carefully enough. Here are a couple of my favorite shots on the day.
I would presume these to represent the fiery searcher, Calosoma scrutator, but apparently C. wilcoxi is similar in appearance. According to comments by several BugGuide users, C. scrutator is larger (25mm or more in length), has more elongated mandibles and head, and the color of the central purple area of the pronotum is more intense. Based on those comments, I would say the two individuals in these photographs are C. scrutator. However, they also note some differences in temporal occurrence that don’t seem to support that. Moreover, the many individuals I saw that day ranged in size from these larger individuals to some notably smaller ones.
Copyright © Ted C. MacRae 2011
Beetles In The Bush 
“Just ground beetles”? But they are beautiful!
The most common species we have around here are the ones with a pattern of gold or red-gold spots on the wing covers.
Yes, they are beautiful. Yours is Callisthenes calidus, perhaps?
Yes, I believe that’s what they are. Although, Bug Guide was still calling them “Calosoma calidum” when i looked them up before.
I think most large genera are doomed in the face of ever more detailed phylogenetic studies.
That’s a beautiful ground beetle—love that shade of green!
I’ve always kind of taken them for granted, but seeing as many as I did this time was rather exciting.
That’s some great mandible porn in the top photo!
Incidentally, Ed Yong has conscripted one of your membracid images for his slide show here:
http://bit.ly/lMdNNX
I took almost 20 shots of two different individuals trying to make sure I got a mandible shot spot on. This was the only one that nailed it—in all the others the angle was slightly off and thus lost the ‘sheen’.
Cool post by Ed Yong!
Nice! I have to ask though — did you get sprayed by any of them?
Yep, the first one I tried to photograph nailed me when I stupidly thought I could just pick it up after it ran off the trail and put it back on the trail where it would just sit while I took my photos.
family Carabidae—the real Carabidae, not the tiger beetle Carabidae that I’ve begrudgingly had to accept
H’uh, I didn’t know Cinclidae had been brought so low.
Reading a little about it, seems like working out what to call your favourite beetles, and working between articles written at different times) must be a nightmare- you have the sympathy of someone who studies snails that have been placed in 3 separate families over the course of my PhD!
A little tongue-in-cheek – passions about this run higher in some people 🙂 To me they’re still tiger beetles – just whether to call them Cicindel-idae, -inae, -itae, etc. can be difficult.
Of course, that’s nothing compared to the whole ordinal shift that I had to accept with my hobby group, the Membracidae.
Gorgeous photos. I make bugs from fabric and these close-ups are so inspiring. I would love to find a fabric with the color and texture of the abdomen of this beetle.
I hope you find it – a plush caterpillar hunter would be an awesome doll!
The first one of these beautiful beetles I ever saw flew into our booth at an art fair in Columbia, MO. It seemed as if it were a piece of artwork that had escaped from someone else’s booth.
It’s easy to take them for granted, but they really are among the most spectacular of North American beetles.