''Carabus intricatus'', the blue ground beetle, is a species of

ground beetle Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it i ...

found in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. It is a large beetle ( in length), with a metallic purple or blue and roughly surfaced

elytra An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alterna ...

; the second pair of wings (which are used by

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

s for flying) under the elytra are reduced. In Britain it was only recorded three times in the twenty years up to 1993 and was considered extinct there. But in 1994 it was found in a couple of places near

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...

. ''Carabus intricatus'' are nocturnal carnivores that are mainly active in the spring and early summer. Tests have shown they prefer slugs from the genus ''

Limax ''Limax'' is a genus of air-breathing land slugs in the terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk family Limacidae. The generic name ''Limax'' literally means "slug". Some species, such as the leopard slug (''L. maximus'') and the tawny garden ...

'', especially '' Limax marginatus''. They were also found to have a taste for liver, dog food, and crabsticks. In the wild, the adults are found under bark on dead wood, and under rocks. It does not require ground vegetation, and likes damp, rotten, moss-covered wood. The beetles seem to be active throughout the year and a fully-grown larva has been found in summer. This specimen also ate slugs prior to

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

ting, and emerged as an adult some three weeks later. It is thought that it may take two years to complete its life cycle. The adults are very long-lived.

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{{Taxonbar, from=Q1265900 intricatus Beetles of Europe Beetles described in 1761 Near threatened animals Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus