Pasimachus Flat Ground Beetle vs Karner Blue

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Pasimachus Flat Ground Beetle Karner Blue
Scientific Name Pasimachus depressus Plebejus samuelis
Order Coleoptera Lepidoptera
Family Carabidae Lycaenidae
Size 22-30 mm 22-28 mm wingspan
Habitat Deserts & Drylands Deserts & Drylands
Diet Predators Omnivores
Regions Southeastern United States Great Lakes and northeastern United States
Conservation Least Concern Endangered

Pasimachus Flat Ground Beetle

A large, broad, flattened shiny black beetle with massive mandibles and distinctive blue-margined elytra. It is one of the most imposing ground beetles in North America.

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Did You Know?

Its immensely powerful mandibles can easily pierce through the tough exoskeleton of other beetles, and it has been observed killing and eating June bugs and other scarabs.

Karner Blue

A tiny bright blue butterfly with orange crescents on the hindwing underside that depends entirely on wild lupine. It is a federally endangered species in the United States.

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Did You Know?

It was first described by novelist Vladimir Nabokov, who was also a serious lepidopterist at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology.