Sycophant
Calosoma sycophanta (Linnaeus, 1758)
Status not recordedbeetles
The sycophant (Calosoma sycophanta) is a species in the family Carabidae, order Coleoptera. Recorded adults reach 3.5 cm in length. Source checklists list it for 36 countries, including Albania, Algeria and Armenia.
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Quick facts about the sycophant
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- 2.1 cm – 3.5 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forest, freshwater, wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- 36 countriessrc for Countries on record
How big is the sycophant?
Which animals does the sycophant eat?
Species recorded in published studies and collections.
Each pair is recorded by at least two independent datasets. A record shows the animal was seen or found to have eaten the other, including scavenged carcasses and young animals; it does not say how often. Compiled by Global Biotic Interactions (CC0 1.0).
References for these records
- https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/291537361
- https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/144170318
- Willner, W. (2013). Taschenlexikon der Käfer Mitteleuropas: Die wichtigsten Arten im Porträt. Quelle & Meyer.
Where does the sycophant live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The sycophant is listed for 36 countries.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
- Albania
- Algeria
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belgium
- China
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Denmark
- Egypt
- Estonia
- France
- Georgia
- Greece
- Hungary
- Italy
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Libya
- Lithuania
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Tunisia
- Turkmenistan
- Ukraine
- Uzbekistan
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: CarabCat (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
Where has it been introduced?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the sycophant as introduced in 1 country.
Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).
Is the sycophant endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the sycophant classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderColeoptera
- familyCarabidae
- genusCalosoma
- SpeciesCalosoma sycophanta (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Callipara rapax, Callipara sycophanta, Calosoma anthracinum, Calosoma azureum, Calosoma corvinum, Calosoma cupreum, Calosoma habelmanni, Calosoma lapougei, Calosoma marginatum, Calosoma nigroaeneum, Calosoma nigrocyaneum, Calosoma nigrosuturale, Calosoma prasinum, Calosoma purpureipenne, Calosoma purpureoaureum, Calosoma rapax, Calosoma severum, Calosoma smaragdynum, Calosoma solinfectum, Carabus sycophanta
Other names and names in other languages (32)
- Agreeable caterpillar hunterEnglish
- Fiery searcherEnglish
- Forest caterpillar hunterEnglish
- Красацел пахучыBelarusian
- Златист гъсеничарBulgarian
- Escarabat lluentCatalan
- krajník pižmovýCzech
- PupperøverDanish
- Stor pupperøverDanish
- Großer PuppenräuberGerman
- calosome doréFrench
- Calosome sycophanteFrench
- Calosome vertFrench
- grand calosomeFrench
- Moškatni gusjeničarCroatian
- Aranyos bábrablóHungarian
- SicofanteItalian
- ни къведай пепеLezghian
- MuskustorDutch
- Grote poppendoderDutch
- Grote poppenroverDutch
- Grote rupsendoderDutch
- PoppenroverDutch
- RupsenjagerDutch
- tęcznik liszkarzPolish
- Пахучий КрасотелRussian
- húseničiar pižmovýSlovak
- Велика лепотелкаSerbian
- Velika lepotelkaSerbian
- praktlarvmördareSwedish
- stor larvmördareSwedish
- Красотіл пахучийUkrainian
Relatives of the sycophant
Other species in the same genus Calosoma.
Lesser searcher
Calosoma inquisitor
Fiery searcher
Calosoma scrutator
Wilcox's caterpillar hunter
Calosoma wilcoxi
Cold-country caterpillar hunter
Calosoma frigidum
Black caterpillar hunter
Calosoma sayi
Narrow searcher
Calosoma externum
CompareSycophant vs Lesser searcherSycophant vs Fiery searcherSycophant vs Wilcox's caterpillar hunterSycophant vs Cold-country caterpillar hunter
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the sycophant?
An adult sycophant measures 2.1 cm – 3.5 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the sycophant live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the sycophant for 36 countries, including Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Austria and Azerbaijan. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the sycophant an invasive species?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the sycophant as introduced in 1 country: United States, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.
What kind of animal is the sycophant?
The sycophant (Calosoma sycophanta) belongs to the family Carabidae in the order Coleoptera.
Which animals does the sycophant eat?
Animals recorded as prey of the sycophant include lymantria dispar. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
- Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI): interpreted data products · CC0 1.0 · 0.11
Poelen, J.H., Simons, J.D. & Mungall, C.J. (2014) Global Biotic Interactions: an open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics 24: 148–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.08.005. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22691479, with each record's original reference. - Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-11-13
Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Sycophant (Calosoma sycophanta). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/sycophant
“Sycophant (Calosoma sycophanta).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/sycophant.
@misc{sycophant_2026,
title = {Sycophant (Calosoma sycophanta)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/sycophant},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}