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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
| Carabid beetles and their larvae are mostly carnivorous, although some probably also scavenge on the dead remains of insects and other invertebrates, whilst others feed extensively on vegetable matter, especially plant seeds. A few of the carnivores are specialized caterpillar or snail hunters, or prey on a fairly narrow range of small animals such as aphids, springtails and mites; but most species are not very fastidious and a mixed diet of many different invertebrates, and often some vegetable matter, is quite normal. One or two carabids are occasional pests, such as the strawberry seed beetle (Harpalus rufipes), which sometimes damages strawberries by biting at the seeds and surrounding flesh, and the cereal beetle (Zabrus tenebrioides), which in some parts of Europe damages cereal crops by feeding on the leaves and developing ears of corn. Otherwise, the vast majority of ground beetles are extremely beneficial and important predators which help in the natural control of many garden and crop pests, such as grasshoppers, crickets, termites, aphids, plant bugs, leaf beetles, weevils, wireworms, chafer grubs, butterfly and moth caterpillars, sawfly caterpillars, crane flies (leatherjackets), fruit flies, gall midges, many other fly pests, as well as slugs and snails. |
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