Ground Beetle - Schallebijter, Schalenbijter - Carabus scheidleri ssp jucundus
This is the typical subspecies of Carabus scheidleri 'jucundus', which is found in the forested hills around Budapest. The subspecies shows beautiful colour variations with blue, greenish and reddish colored to almost blackish individuals. The species also inhabits grasslands, pastures, and vinetyards in the lowlands, but it is dominantly a forest species.
The species is very closely related to 'Carabus monilis', which is a West-European species, mainly found in open habitat and the more restricted range species 'Carabus zawadskii' and 'Carabus hampei', both ocurring more to the east. More to the south Carabus kollari is another closely related species. Recent DNA-analysis and study has revealed that some subpopulations of 'monilis' showed more genetic differences then the general genetic difference between the 'monilis' and 'scheidleri' or 'zawadskii' populations'. Only 'hampei' seemed to show more pronounced genetic difference, with the three previous species. So it seems that the definitive taxonomic decisions have still to be made within this Carabus complex...