A: Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful, iridescent blue-green insect with me. This is one of the ground beetles and I believe it could be the Fiery Searcher, Calosoma scrutator, or Caterpillar Hunter. The caterpillar hunter is one of the largest representatives of the ground beetles, and a common North American species. Like other ground beetles it prefers cool, damp places to live, and so is often found on the ground under rocks, logs, leaves, bark, decomposing wood and other debris. However, the caterpillar hunter will climb trees in search of their favorite prey, caterpillars. Their most common prey includes tent caterpillars, gypsy moth caterpillars, and other forest caterpillars. The caterpillar hunter generally feeds at night and hides during the day. Adults may live up to two or three years. The adult caterpillar hunter is 2.5 cm (1″) to 2.9 cm (1 3/8″) in length, with a violet/blue luster on the sides of the head and thorax. The wing covers (elytra) are metallic green with red margins, and have fine grooves running from front to back.

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