FOOD AND FEEDING BEHAVIOUR OF SOME LICINUS SPECIES (COLEOPTERA CARABIDAE LICININI)

SUMMARY The predatory and feeding behaviour of three Licinus species (Coleoptera Carabidae Licinini), cassideus Dejean, hoffmannseggi Panzer and italicus Puel has been observed in the laboratory by offering the beetles eight species of terrestrial gastropods of the families Zonitidae and Helicidae, and some specimens of the prosobranch Pomatias elegans (Muller). These licinine carabids behave as highly specialized oligophagous predators and are able to crush the shells of the snails by means of a peculiar instinctive behaviour pattern that has been called «shell crushing». During this action sequence the shell is opened along the upper part of the body whorl by slow bites which are made at a suitable angle. The breach stretches on to a part of the second whorl. A remarkable plasticity of this predatory action sequence has been observed in relation to the size of the prey and to the barrier given by a calcareous operculum Pomadas). This behaviour pattern is supported by a specialized head morphology, a com...