''Pasimachus mexicanus'' is a species of warrior beetle.

Description

Sometimes called the greenish or Mexican warrior beetle in English, the beetle is characterized by its large size, shiny, green color and, in common with other members of ''Pasimachus'', its powerful

mandibles In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

and a

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly mu ...

diet.

Range

It occurs on the

Mexican Plateau The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano (), is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. Averaging above sea level, it extends from the United States border in the north to the T ...

of central Mexico at elevations of 1383 – 2474 meters altitude.

Behavior

The species is

brachypterous Brachyptery is an anatomical condition in which an animal has very reduced wings. Such animals or their wings may be described as "brachypterous". Another descriptor for very small wings is microptery. Brachypterous wings generally are not functi ...

, thus flightless and limited to walking or running. Adults are mainly

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

, and aestivate in the ground during the dry season. Adults are predaceous.

Habitat

Adults are ground-dwelling, during the day usually remaining in burrows dug into the substrate, under stones, or surface debris. However, the individual illustrated in the taxonomy box was found fast-moving across rocky ground of overgrazed,

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a aridity, dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as l ...

scrub populated largely with tree

cacti A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

and mesquites. It was at an elevation of ~1900 m (~6200 feet)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14048652 Scaritinae Beetles described in 1832