Bug FAQWilcox's Spring Caterpillar Hunter
Calosoma wilcoxi · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Carabidae
Also called: Wilcox's Caterpillar Hunter
Wilcox's spring caterpillar hunter lives in deciduous forests, nearby gardens, cultivated fields, orchards and urban trees across Canada and the United States. Adults hunt and eat caterpillars and grasshoppers, helping control those pests. They are active both day and night, and spend the winter in underground cavities.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Found in Canada and the United States, especially in deciduous forest areas and nearby human-made habitats.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Inhabits deciduous forests as well as adjacent gardens, cultivated fields, orchards and trees in urban settings.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Preys on caterpillars and grasshoppers.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Adults are active both at night and during the day. They overwinter in cavities in the ground.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are active both nocturnally and diurnally.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Native to Canada and the United States.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 30 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, Oklahoma, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What do Wilcox's spring caterpillar hunters eat?
They hunt and eat caterpillars and grasshoppers.
Source: Wikipedia
Where are they found?
They live in Canada and the United States, in deciduous forests and nearby gardens, fields, orchards and urban trees.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Carabidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calosoma_wilcoxi
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.