‘Carabidologists do it all’ (Niemelä 1996a) is a phrase with which most European carabidologists are familiar. Indeed, during the last half a century, professional and amateur entomologists have contributed enormously to our understanding of the basic biology of carabid beetles. The success of the field is in no small part due to regular European Carabidologists’ Meetings, which started in 1969 in Wijster, the Netherlands, with the 14th meeting again held in the Netherlands in 2009, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first meeting and 50 years of long-term research in the Dwingelderveld. This paper offers a subjective summary of some of the major developments in carabidology since the 1960s. Taxonomy of the family Carabidae is now reasonably established, and the application of modern taxonomic tools has brought up several surprises like elsewhere in the animal kingdom. Progress has been made on the ultimate and proximate factors of seasonality and timing of reproduction, which only exceptionally show non-seasonality. Triggers can be linked to evolutionary events and plausibly explained by the “taxon cycle” theory. Fairly little is still known about certain feeding preferences, including granivory and ants, as well as unique life history strategies, such as ectoparasitism and predation on higher taxa. The study of carabids has been instrumental in developing metapopulation theory (even if it was termed differently). Dispersal is one of the areas intensively studied, and results show an intricate interaction between walking and flying as the major mechanisms. The ecological study of carabids is still hampered by some unresolved questions about sampling and data evaluation. It is recognised that knowledge is uneven, especially concerning larvae and species in tropical areas. By their abundance and wide distribution, carabid beetles can be useful in population studies, bioindication, conservation biology and landscape ecology. Indeed, 40 years of carabidological research have provided so much data and insights, that among insects - and arguably most other terrestrial organisms - carabid beetles are one of the most worthwhile model groups for biological studies.

The estimation of DNA substitution rates requires calibration with the geological events which caused the separation of populations. We used the disintegration of the landbridges between Morocco and Gibraltar as well as the Balearics and Spain at the end of the Messinian event (5.3 myr) in order to calibrate the DNA sequence data of the NADH-dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1) in West Mediterranean Carabus species. The rates of molecular evolution we found are much lower than those reported in the literature and also vary from species to species. Therefore, in insects the calculation of divergence periods using a constant 2% substitution rate per myr is questionable.

Seven species of carabid beetles were examined in different "pH-Orgeln" for pH-preferences. Five of these species showed significant preferences for specific pH-fields. Presumably, this parameter of distribution found in the laboratory is also effective in the field. We caught the beetles in the field on soil of the same pH-values which they prefered in the laboratory. The pH-measurements taken by previous workers in the field match our results.The receptors for H-ions are probably located on the antennae, because the preference distribution of Pt. angustatus changed into a uniform distribution after amputation of the distal segments of the antennae. The structure of these receptors could not be identified in electron microscope pictures (REM) among the multitude of different receptors on the antennae.

Reflectance measurements have been carried out on the elytral cuticle of two beetles. Great differences arise in the tiger beetle Cicindela campestris depending on the extremely structured surface and colour variation from point to point. In comparison the buprestid beetle Chrysochroa vittata appears more even. Indeed macroscopically it looks completely smooth, but there are microscopical structures complicating reflection measurements.The advantages and disadvantages of working with a macro-and a microspectrophotometer are listed. The structural properties of the colour producing multilayer system are the same in both species. Measured spectral reflectance curves show the typical form of interference colours. A second order reflectance maximum in the UV region was found.Calculations of the reflectance curves were done by the equations given by Huxley for the non-ideal type of multilayer reflectors.