A Comparative Study of the Ecology of Eight Species of Fenland Carabidae (Coleoptera)

Abstract

In a 2-year study some differences were found in the summer and winter microhabitats and in the feeding and breeding cycles of Agonum obscurum (Herbst), Agonum fuliginosum (Panz.), Agonum thoreyi Dej., Agonum viduum (Panz.), Feronia vernalis (Panz.), Feronia minor (Gyll.), Feronia strenua (Panz.), and Feronia diligens at Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, England. The 8 species also differed in the ratio of young to old adults in their winter populations. Individuals that had bred at least once seemed to have similar mortality rates to the young adults that had not yet bred. A comparison was made of the feeding habits of the 3 commonest species- Agonum obscurum, Agonum fuliginosum, and Feronia diligens. They differed in the percentage of individuals feeding during the various summer months in 1955, but there seemed to belittle difference in the size and type of their food.