Europe, with a mainly central and southern distribution and scattered northern populations.
Fine-art photographic collection
Carabus (Chaetocarabus) intricatus
A flightless blue hunter that climbs ancient trees at night to kill slugs.
About this species
Blue Ground Beetle
Carabus (Chaetocarabus) intricatusLinnaeus, 1760
Information reviewed15 July 2026
The blue ground beetle is an ancient-woodland specialist with reduced flight wings. It hides by day in mossy dead wood and climbs trunks after dark in search of large slugs.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Carabidae · Carabus
GBIF/Catalogue of Life accepts Carabus (Chaetocarabus) intricatus Linnaeus, 1760; the shorter gallery name is an equivalent combination. · checked 2026-07-15
EuropeBroad documented range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
What makes this species remarkable?
It is completely flightless, yet adults can live for two or three years and repeatedly climb tree trunks during nocturnal hunts.
The beetle grips a slug with its jaws, injects digestive fluid and consumes the prey after its tissues begin to liquefy.
Britain considered the species extinct until its rediscovery in 1994; surviving populations depend on damp woods rich in veteran trees and dead bark.