Calosoma (Charmosta) investigator (Illiger, 1798)

Length 15-23 mm. The elytron of C. investigator has 22 intervals, is to say that there are two tertiary intervals on each sides of a secondary one ("pentaploïde" type of Jeannel), The intermediate intervals are strongly scaly, the primary ones are interrupted by large copper-bottomed foveae.
C. investigator occupies a very large area, in part overlapping that of C. denticolle. In Europe it is present from the northern coast of the Black sea to the Baltic sea. It is absent from eastern Prussia (Bercio & Folwaczny 1979) but it is cited of Kaliningrad and of the facing Swedish island of Öland, in this last case as a possibly consequence of passive transport by the wind. It is a steppe species and it seems became relatively more common in the north part of its distribution area, possibly in response to warmer and wetter summer caused by global warming (Aleksandrowicz, 2011: 478). Eastward C. investigator is widespread in southern Russia, Crimea, Caucasus, Central Asia, southern Siberia, Mongolia, North China. It has also been cited from Iran (Azadbakhsh et al. 2015c: 20), based on an ancient quotation (Kollar & Redtenbacher, 1849: 46) that however refers to Calosoma sericeum Fabr. (nec Sturm) that is synonymous with C. maderae. Consequently the actual presence of C. investigator in Iran must be considered doubtful.

Examined specimens and literature’s data
Belarus. Luninetz env., Slutsk, Bobruysk, (Aleksandrowicz, 2011: 479), Brest (www.inaturalist.org)
China. Inner Mongolia: Mouo-ze-chan (Deuve, 1997: 56); Heilongjiang: Amur river (Deuve, 1997: 56); Hebei: Zhangjiakou (Deuve, 1997: 56)
Germany. Sachsen: Chemnitz. (Köhler, 2011)
Kazakhistan. 20 km. N. Kustanasi (SB); Ile de la Mer Caspienne (holotype of Calosoma caspium) (MNHN)
Kyrgyzstan. Kirghiz mountain range (= Semirjetschensk) (Breuning, 1927: 230)
Moldova. Kodry hills (Neculiseanu & Matalin, 2000: 41)
Mongolia. Altaj mountains (Breuning, 1927: 232); Selenga river valley ( sub ssp. chaffanjoni Lapouge, 1930: 89); Bulgan aimag: Bajannuur (Mandl, 1973: 66); Govi-Altai Aimag: Delger 1480m. (Mandl, 1969: 2); Khovd aimag: Bulgan 1200m (Mandl, 1968: 282)
Poland. Jaroslaw (Breuning, 1927: 230)
Romania. (Nitu, 1991: 121)
Russia. southern Russia (EM, SB); Altaj: Loktevsky district (Gebler, 1833: 274), Sovetsk (= Tilsit) (Breuning, 1927: 231); Astrachan': Ninovka (SB), Dosang (SB), Lake Elton (Matalin & Makarov, 2011), Serafimovich (http://www.zin.ru/); Bashkortostan: Tuymazinsky distr. (Instagram, Burns-Scarabaeinae); Bashkiria (Bashkortostan) (http://carabidae.org/); Buriazia (=Transbaikal): Selenga River Valley (SB), Kiakhta (Jeannel, 1940: 120); Čeljabinsk: Kizel'skij distr. (www.gbif.org), Daghestan (Breuning, 1927: 229): Gergebil'skij distr. (www.gbif.org); Irkutsk: Khabarowsk (EM), Sayan mountains (Breuning, 1927: 232), Angarsk (www.inaturalist.org); Kaliningrad (= Königsberg) (Breuning, 1927: 231); Kirov: Wiatka river (Breuning, 1927: 231); Krasnojarsk (www.inaturalist.org/); Omsk: Bolsheukovsky distr. (www.inaturalist.org); Orenburg: Akbulak distr (SB), Dubovyy (www.inaturalist.org); Rjazan (Breuning, 1927: 229); Saratov: Saratov distr., Balashov distr., Krasnoarmeyskiy distr., Rtischevsky distr. (Sazhnev, 2007: 351), Balakovskiy distr. (www.inaturalist.org/); Tatarstan: Sokury (www.inaturalist.org), Nizhnekamskiy (www.inaturalist.org/); Tjumen: Tobolsk (Breuning, 1927: 231); Tomsk (Breuning, 1927: 229); Tula: Paschkowo (Breuning, 1927: 232), Kireyevsky distr. (http://www.zin.ru/); Volvograd: Olkhovskiy distr (http://molbiol.ru/), Gorodiščenskij (www.gbif.org).
Sweden. Öland (Lindroth, 1985: 49)
Ucraina. Dnipropetrovs’k (= Ekaterinoslaw) (Breuning, 1927: 231); Podolia (Breuning, 1927: 231); Poltava: Poltava (www.inaturalist.org/), Zin'kiv (Zenkov) (SB)
Turkmenistan. Kopet dag (Breuning, 1927: 230)

Notes: Winged, attracted to light at night and easily caught by pit traps. In Europe it suits various types of open areas, but preferably it is found on sandy soils: arable lands, fields and meadows. Active adults have been mostly observed in June and July

Calosoma (Charmosta) investigator ♀ (Illiger, 1798) Ile de la Mer Caspienne (holotype of Calosoma sericeum (var.) caspium Dejean, 1826) (coll. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris)

Calosoma (Charmosta) investigator ♂ (Illiger, 1798) Kazakhistan: 20km. N. Kustanasi, 190m., 6.7.1998 Danilewsky lg.

Calosoma (Charmosta) investigator ♀ (Illiger, 1798) Kazakhistan: 20km. N. Kustanasi, 190m., 6.7.1998 Danilewsky lg.