Habits

Worldwide, adult carabids range in size from 0.7 to 66.0 mm. Adults of most species are fast running, night-active, generalist predators of arthropods or insect eggs. However, some are specialists. For example: species in the tribes Peleciini and Promecognathini are millipede hunters; Cychrini and Licinini are snail hunters; and Notiophilus, Loricera and Leistus eat Collembola; Paussini and Pseudomorphini live with ants and feed on ant workers and ant brood. Other carabids, such as members of the Harpalini and Zabrini, are seedeaters, thus herbivorous. In Costa Rica, the following feeding specialties are known to occur: seed eaters, snail eaters, insect predators, millipede predators, ectoparasitoids, and ant symbionts.

The larvae of most carabid species are campodeiform with well-developed legs, antennae and mandibles. They are active and fast-running, and they generally eat live prey or seeds. However, some groups, such as the Lebiini, Brachinitae, and Peleciini, have ectoparasitoid larvae that eat beetle pupae, insect egg clutches, or the young millipedes. Some carabids that are parasitoids mimic their adult host (Lindroth 1971).