THE SOIL FAUNA: ANTHROPODS - The Soil - page 94

F IG. 33
The pselaphid beetle Claviger testaceus which lives in nests of the yellow ant Lasius flavus. (Drawn by R.
C. Welch.)
Very short, rabbit-or sheep-grazed turf lead to high soil temperatures which fa-
vour Myrmica sabuleti: slightly taller vegetation with more shading of the ground fa-
vours M. scabrinodis. This latter species is only one fifth as good a foster parent for
caterpillars of the large blue, and so could not support a population of the butterfly
within the small areas of suitable vegetation remaining in southern England. An at-
tempt has now been made to reintroduce the Scandinavian race of this butterfly after
improving the habitat for M. sabuleti by close grazing, and there is cause for cautious
optimism.
The interesting little blind beetle Claviger testaceus ( Fig. 33 ) is the most special-
ized of the myrmecophilous Pselaphidae, mentioned earlier. It lives in the nests of the
yellow ant Lasius flavus where it is fed by its hosts with regurgitated food, though it