Bombardier beetles can be found on most continents around the world, but the particular species chosen for this report is found only in North America. Bombardier beetles of all types generally live in temperate zone woodlands or grasslands (Isaak 1997; Salleh et al. 1999).

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Like all members of the insect order Coleoptera, the bombardier beetle has two elytra (sheaths) over its wings, although the wings themselves are considered vestigal in the American species, and rather useless for flying. To compensate for this inability to escape by flying away from predators, the beetle possesses a rather interesting apparatus for defending itself against predators, which will be elaborated on later. All of the other characteristics of insects in general (six legs, two antennae, body segmented into head, thorax, and abdomen, etc.) are present (Isaak 1997).

Range mass: 0 to 0 kg.

Bombardiers can inhabit a fairly wide variety of environments as long as there is sufficient moisture to allow for good places to lay their eggs. Bombardier beetles of all types generally live in temperate zone woodlands or grasslands (Isaak 1997, Salleh 1999).

Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune ; savanna or grassland ; chaparral ; forest

A member of the family Carabidae, more commonly known as the ground beetles, the bombardier beetle quite naturally shares some of the habits of its family, and like most other ground beetles tends to come out at night to prey on smaller insects. Unlike most other ground beetles, however, the bombardier is rather gregarious, so when not wandering around looking for food (usually during the day) it will congregate with others of its kind in dark, damp places such as hollow logs (Eisner 2000; Shetlar 1988).

Any place will do for a ground beetle to lay its eggs, so long as it's out of the way of most predators, but not too far away from a good food source. Small underground tunnels or cracks in rotting wood are viable places, as are the decomposing remains of other living things (which quite often serve as the food source.) When the egg hatches, it goes into the larval stage, where it begins alternately taking in nourishment from the food source and occasionally molting. After it sheds its skin for the last time, it metamorphoses into a pupa, the stage at which the juvenile looks most like the adult which it will eventually become. At the end of the pupal stage, the pupa sheds its skin and a new adult bombardier beetle emerges. Ground beetles tend to live for several weeks, during which they have ample opportunity to mate and pass on their genes (Shetlar 1988).

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Stats
                                                             

Specimen Records:	3
Specimens with Sequences:	0
Specimens with Barcodes:	0
Public Records:	0
Species:	1
Species With Barcodes:	0

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 0
Species: 2
Species With Barcodes: 1

Most of the scientific research done on the beetle has focused on its defense structures, so the question of how it fits into the larger ecological picture in its particular environment is not very well known. It is widely distributed across North America, though rarely found in large numbers.

US Federal List: no special status

CITES: no special status

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked

Rounded Global Status Rank: GNR - Not Yet Ranked

This species, like nearly all the species in the family Carabidae, is a predator, and eats a number of other insects that are agricultural pests.