Ocypus olens: A predator of brown garden snail

The large black rove-beetle Ocypus olens Msller (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) (fig. 1) is established in some gardens in California. It was first introduced accidentally into California probably about fifty years ago and has since been reported in the counties of Contra Costa, Imperial, Los Angeles, Modoc, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco and San Mateo. This active predator is now being viewed as a possible biological control agent of Helix aspersa Muller, the brown garden snail (BGS).