Green tiger beetle - Cicindela campestris ♂

Distribution and habitat

This beetle loves warm conditions and is relatively prevalent in large parts of Europe and Asia.
You can see them from April to September on dry, sunny forest edges, in heathland, meadows, sandpits and on sandy coastlines. It is protected by law!

Way of life and characteristic features

This beetle is 10 to 15 mm in size and is particularly active in very sunny conditions.
It has very large eyes and powerful mandibles full of long teeth.
The larvae and imagos are predatory and particularly eat other beetles, flies, ants and spiders.
The larvae hunt their prey from burrows in the earth which they have dug themselves.