Amara aenea explained

Amara aenea is a ground beetle common in almost the whole of Europe and Northern Asia. Its range covers also parts of Northern Africa. It is known as the common sun beetle.

A. aenea adults are predators that eat other insects, such as the apple maggot^[1] and soybean aphid,^[2] which are considered pests by the agriculture industry. As such, this beetle is under study for use in integrated pest management. Larvae are omnivorous.^[3]

The adults feed on the developing seed of Poa trivialis and smooth meadow grass Poa pratensis.^[4]

Notes and References

1. M. E. O'Neil . K. S. Mason . R. Isaacs . 2005 . Seasonal abundance of ground beetles in highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) fields and response to a reduced-risk insecticide program . . 34 . 2 . 378–384 . 10.1603/0046-225X-34.2.378 . 85559558 . free .
2. Claire E. Rutledge . Robert J. O'Neil . Tyler B. Fox . Douglas A. Landis . 2004 . Soybean aphid predators and their use in integrated pest management . . 97 . 2 . 240–248 . 10.1603/0013-8746(2004)097[0240:SAPATU]2.0.CO;2 . 83730579 . 2011-08-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120331081532/http://www.landislab.ent.msu.edu/pdf/Landis%20PDF%20Collection/33.Rutledge.Oneil.Fox.Landis.Soybean%20aphid%20predators.pdf . 2012-03-31 . dead .
3. Karel Hůrka . Vojtěch Jarošík . 2003 . Larval omnivory in Amara aenea (Coleoptera: Carabidae) . . 100 . 3 . 329–335 . 10.14411/eje.2003.052 . free .
4. Web site: Natural England description on website . 2009-08-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090223215305/http://www.plantpress.com/wildlife/o1084-roughmeadowgrass.php . 2009-02-23 . dead .