Bug FAQCalosoma obsoletum
Calosoma obsoletum · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Carabidae
Calosoma obsoletum is a black ground beetle known as the old beautiful black searcher. It lives in open prairies, rangelands and cultivated fields across many western and central North American regions. Both adults and larvae hunt lepidopteran caterpillars such as Hemileuca oliviae.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The species is called the old beautiful black searcher.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 14 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Colorado, California, New Mexico, Utah, Kansas, Texas, Wyoming, Arizona.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
Questions people ask
What does Calosoma obsoletum eat?
It feeds on lepidopteran caterpillars such as Hemileuca oliviae.
Source: Wikipedia
Where can I find Calosoma obsoletum?
It lives in open prairies, rangelands and cultivated fields across parts of Canada and many western and central U.S. states.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Carabidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calosoma_obsoletum
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-27 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-27.