Diel activity patterns of some field Carabidae

Abstract. 1. A 24 h time‐sorting pitfall trap was used to collect Carabidae in a field in north‐east England in 1974, 1976 and 1977. 2. Harpalus rufipes comprised 62% of the 5288 adult Carabidae caught. It was nocturnal, with an activity peak after midnight. The male activity pattern lagged behind that of females by about 1 h. The activity peak shifted to earlier in the night during September. 3. Activity curves are given for eighteen other common species. Large species were all nocturnal, but a third of the smaller species were active in the day. The numbers caught of twenty‐eight less common species are tabulated and show the same trend. Overall, nearly 60% of all species caught were nocturnal and 20% diurnal; the remainder did not show a distinct pattern of day or night activity. 4. A total of eighty‐two larvae of H.rufipes, Nebria brevicollis and Notiophilus biguttatus were caught, and showed similar activity patterns to those of the respective adult beetles.