Carabus gigas

Carabus gigas
	Carabus gigas male and female, at National Museum (Prague)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Family:	Carabidae
Genus:	Carabus
Species:	C. gigas
Binomial name
	Carabus gigas; Creutzer, 1799
Synonyms
	Carabus (Procerus) gigas; Procerus gigas;

Carabus gigas is a species of beetles of the family Carabidae.^[2]

Description

Carabus gigas is the largest European ground beetle, reaching a length of about 40–70 millimetres (1.6–2.8 in). The upper surface is black and glossy. The elytrtra are oval, strongly convex and covered with about 15 rows of more or less small tubercles. Also the pronotum has a granular surface. The adults reach the age of 3 years or more. These beetles primarily feed on snails.

Distribution

This species is endemic to Europe and occurs in South-East Europe and in Central Europe, the range extends into Styria and Carinthia. It is observed in Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, mainland Greece, Hungary, mainland Italy, North Macedonia, Romania, Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Slovenia.

Habitat

Carabus gigas lives in moist and subalpine highlands.

Subspecies

Carabus g. duponcheli, Dejean, 1831 (Southern Greece)
Carabus g. parnassicus, Kraatz, 1884 (Greece, North Macedonia, southern Albania)

Gallery

Illustration of Carabus gigas from Carl Gustav Calwer and Gustav Jäger, "Naturgeschichte der Käfer Europas" (1876), Table 1, Picture 13.
In Mehedinți Mountains, Romania