Ablattaria laevigata (Fabricius, 1775)

Often included in the genus Silpha Linnaeus, 1758, this is the only widespread European member of the present genus; two other species are present but both are restricted to Greece and the Near East. A. laevigata is a very local insect of southern and central Europe, extending from Spain to Ukraine and Turkey in the south, and north to the UK; it is present in Germany and Poland but otherwise absent from the Baltic counties and the UK seems to represent the northern limit of its distribution. Here it is mostly restricted to England south of the Wash; it is mostly coastal in the West Country and there are a few records further north as far as Nottingham and from the south Welsh coast. Typical habitats are open grassland or scrub with patchy vegetation, usually on light sandy or chalky soil and usually exposed to the sun or at least in sheltered warmer situations, adults live among tussocks or under debris etc. and are mostly nocturnal but in warm weather they become active and may be encountered as they roam the soil or climb grass stems; they are generally common in the South Buckinghamshire and South Hertfordshire Chilterns and we have often seen them on pathways and chalk escarpments and recorded them by sweeping long grass on sun-exposed hillsides, and we even found one on the steps of Watford Junction station (June 2013) when setting out on a recording trip. Adults are active from April until October but probably overwinter as we have found single specimens in January and they have been recorded in every month in southern Europe, they are specialist pulmonate snail predators and prey species include the white garden snail (Theba pisana (Muller, 1774) and species of Monacha Fitzinger, 1833, Xeropicta Monterosata, 1892 and Candidula Kobelt, 1871, and they have been observed to gnaw through shells and feed on the tissue of living snails. Mating pairs have been recorded in the spring and larvae develop rapidly in spring and early summer, they resemble large shiny black woodlice and are very active terrestrial snail predators although they also climb grass stems, but unlike the adults they curl around the outside of the shell, gripping it with their long and robust legs, and attack the snail through the opening, the larval head is elongate and equipped with long three-segmented antennae which they rapidly and constantly move when prey is detected. Having attacked a snail the larva will enter the shell and devour the entire contents, several snails will be consumed and the larva will rest and moult inside the shell before leaving to find further prey. Fully grown larvae enter the soil to pupate and pupae may be recognized as the developing pronotum, distinctive in the adult, is fully visible, adults eclose after a week or so but remain in the soil for a few days ; they are entirely dull orange before they begin to harden and darken prior to emergence.