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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #376542
Research Project: Beetle Taxonomy and Systematics Supporting U.S. Agriculture, Arboriculture and Biological Control

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: The most southwestern locality and confirmed presence of Carabus (Carabus) vinctus (Weber) in Louisiana

Author
item Sokolov, Igor

Submitted to: Journal of Insect Biodiversity
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/2/2021
Publication Date: 7/14/2021
Citation: Sokolov, I.M. 2021. The most southwestern locality and confirmed presence of Carabus (Carabus) vinctus (Weber) in Louisiana. Journal of Insect Biodiversity. 26(2):31-34. https://doi.org/10.12976/jib/2021.26.2.1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12976/jib/2021.26.2.1

Interpretive Summary: Ground beetles are among insects important for U.S. agriculture. Many are predators of exotic pests that can be used as biological control agents while some are serious pests themselves destroying valuable crops costing millions of dollars annually. This work documents a re-discovery of a large ground beetle species unknown in Louisiana since 1874. The species is illustrated and compared to the members of the same species from other regions. The study will be useful to biological control workers, evolutionary biologists, conservation biologists, ecologists, and anyone interested in predatory beetles.

Technical Abstract: New collection efforts led to re-discovery of Carabus (Carabus) vinctus (Weber) in Louisiana after the first record in 1874. The presumed range of the species in Louisiana is confined to the bottomland forests of the Lake Pontchartrain hydrological system including the lower flows of incoming streams. New locality extends the range of the species in the Gulf States almost 100 miles to the west and represents the most southwestern point of the whole range. Morphologically specimens from Louisiana are close to the Alabama specimens and belong to the var. georgiae Csiky.