This Carabid beetle is one of the more distinctive and attractive of the ground beetles. It is common in forests, parks, and gardens in our area. They have an appetite for escargot, but will eat slugs when shelled delicacies are scarce! The narrow head is an adaptation for eating snails from the shell. This Beetle is mainly nocturnal, but after rainfall, they become quite active, even during the daytime.
Like many ground beetles, this Beetle is flightless. In fact, the hind wings are practically nonexistent. This means that if you can make your garden Carabid-friendly, they will stick around. The larvae live in the soil and prey on soil insects that can do much harm to your garden.
There are four types of Carabid Beetle species that occur in the Pacific Northwest, one is limited to the Olympic mountains, and the other three are common on the Coast.