Egg-predator
Guides
Anthrenus verbasci
Varied Carpet Beetle
Anthrenus verbasci is a cosmopolitan pest species in the family Dermestidae, commonly known as the varied carpet beetle. Adults are small (2–4 mm), rounded beetles with distinctive patterned elytra bearing bands or spots of brown, black, and white scales. Larvae are covered in dense setae and feed on dried proteinaceous material, causing damage to household items, museum collections, and stored agricultural products. The species exhibits circannual control of its life cycle, with photoperiod serving as the primary zeitgeber for synchronizing pupation and adult emergence in spring. Adults feed on pollen and nectar, particularly from umbelliferous plants (Apiaceae) and Asteraceae, and use both olfaction and vision in host plant selection.
Neaphaenops tellkampfi tellkampfi
Neaphaenops tellkampfi tellkampfi is a troglobitic ground beetle that inhabits deep sandy cave environments. This subspecies reaches high population densities where cricket eggs represent the sole viable prey resource. Laboratory studies demonstrate specialized foraging behavior involving excavation of substrate to locate buried eggs, with greater foraging efficiency than the related subspecies N. t. meridionalis.
Proceratium
Hairy Curltail Ants
Proceratium is a rare genus of ants in the subfamily Proceratiinae and the type genus of tribe Proceratiini. These ants are distributed across temperate and tropical regions worldwide but are infrequently collected due to their cryptobiotic lifestyle. Colonies are small, typically containing fewer than 200 individuals. Some species are specialist predators of arthropod eggs, particularly spider eggs. The genus is notable for its ability to curl the abdomen dorsally more than 90 degrees relative to the body axis.
Pseudogaurax
Pseudogaurax is a genus of small flies in the family Chloropidae (frit flies), established by Malloch in 1915. The genus contains approximately 70 described species distributed across all biogeographic regions, with particular diversity in the Neotropics. Larvae are specialized predators and parasitoids of arthropod eggs, with well-documented associations with spider egg sacs, dobsonfly egg masses, mantid oothecae, and—uniquely among Chloropidae—ants. The genus includes the first known ant-parasitizing species in its family, Pseudogaurax paratolmos, discovered in Panama in 2016.
Randallia ornata
globose sand crab, purple globe crab
Randallia ornata is a true crab in the family Leucosiidae, commonly known as the globose sand crab or purple globe crab. It inhabits sandy beaches along the eastern Pacific coast from Northern California to Baja California, Mexico. The species is notable as a host for an undescribed nemertean worm in the genus Carcinonemertes, which acts as an egg predator with infection rates reaching 70% in crab populations.