Alexander beetle
The Alexander beetle is a big black beetle with shiny green edges that shimmer in the light. It cannot fly, but its long, thin legs make it a fast runner. It lives only in one part of New Zealand.
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Fun facts
The mother guards her eggs in a little egg room for three to four weeks and does not even leave to eat.
It helps farmers by eating slugs. In one test it ate about one slug every two days.
Owls called moreporks and birds of prey called harriers like to eat it.
Wide rivers with many channels are hard for it to cross, because it cannot fly over them.
Tiny mites have been found living on its body.
Most asked questions about Alexander beetle
?Where does the Alexander beetle live?
Only in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. It is often found in home gardens.
?How big is the Alexander beetle?
It is 22 to 34 millimetres long, so about 2 to 3.5 cm.
?What does the Alexander beetle eat?
It hunts insects, larvae and slugs.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Megadromus antarcticus
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Carabidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Carabidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Megadromus antarcticus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Max Curnow. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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