Black Krummhorn beetle

Black Krummhorn beetle
Black krummhorn beetle (bristle horned runner)
Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta) Order : Beetle (Coleoptera) Family : Ground beetle (Carabidae) Subfamily : Loricerinae Genre : Loricera Type : Black Krummhorn beetle
Scientific name
Loricera pilicornis
( Fabricius , 1775)

Fig. 1: top
Fig. 2: underside	Fig. 6: Abdomen from below, right partially colored green: hind hip 1, 2,… 6: Abdominal sternite First abdominal sternite only visible from the side
Fig. 3: side view
Fig. 4: Sensor
	Fig. 7: Foreleg of the male above: seen from below below: from the side seen from the inside right: end of the rail with plaster notch Middle: 1. – 3. Tarsal link with adhesive hair on the left: 4th and last tarsal link (claw link)
Fig. 5: Front view
Fig. 8: Mid-breast from diagonally below, copy on the right partially colored ocher: part of the wing covers turned down green: epimer of the mid-breast yellow: lateral border of the mid-hip cavity red: middle leg, mid-hip, thigh ring, part of the thigh
Fig. 9: Mouth parts (Reitter) left: upper jaw right: lower jaw	Fig. 10: Mouth parts (rider) left: upper lip right: chin, tongue, lip probe
Fig. 11: Larva (from Reitter, Fauna Germanica)

The black krummhorn beetle or bristle horned runner ( Loricera pilicornis ) is a beetle from the family of ground beetles (Carabidae). The brown-black insect reaches a length of six to eight millimeters. The beetle is unmistakable due to the long bristles on the antennae, which the predatory animal uses to catch prey.

The species is classified as not endangered in the Red List of Endangered Species in Germany and in the states of Baden-Württemberg and Saxony-Anhalt .

Notes on the name

The species was first described by Fabricius in 1775 under the name Carabus pilicornis . The description contains the characterization antennis pilosis ( Latin "with hairy antennae"). This explains the species name pilicórnis (from Latin pílus , 'hair', and córnu , 'horn, feeler').

The genus Loricera was established in 1802. The generic name Loricera should actually be Lorócera (from ancient Greek λόρον lóron , 'belt', and κέρας kéras , 'horn'). It also says that the antennae (antennae horns) are covered with strong hair.

The genus Loricera is represented in Europe with only one species, worldwide with eleven species.

Physique of the beetle

Viewed from below, the beetle shows the typical characteristics of ground beetles. Six abdominal segments ( abdominal sternite ) can be seen. The rear hips protrude beyond the rear edge of the first sternite so that it is only visible to the side of the rear hips (Fig. 6). The slender legs are lightened from the rails and all end with five-limbed tarsi . The first three tarsi members of the front legs of the males are greatly expanded. They have adhesive hairs on the underside, which enable a better hold in the copulation position (Fig. 7, middle). The front rails have a recess that can be covered by a movable mandrel and is delimited with fine bristles. This " cleaning notch " (Fig. 7, right) is used to clean the sensors. Within the ground beetle, the bristle-horned runner belongs to the group of subfamilies in which the plate of the chitin skeleton adjoining the mid-breast (epimer of the mid-breast, colored green in Fig. 8) reaches the mid-hip cavity.

The head is narrowed like a neck. It is broad but narrower than the pronotum . The compound eyes are clearly bulging, but together narrower than the forehead. There is only one pore point above the edge of the eye , from which a long bristle arises (supraorbital bristle, clearly visible in Fig. 5). The characteristic antennae are eleven-limbed and thread-shaped. The first antenna elements have protruding bristles that are longer than the antenna elements. They are arranged in such a way that they function as a trap for the prey animals. From the fourth segment onwards the antennae are finely haired. The first four antenna elements are significantly thicker than the following (Fig. 4). The upper lip (Fig. 10, left) is rounded. The upper jaws (Fig. 9, left) have a sharp, inwardly curved tip and a tooth on the inner edge. The end links of the lip probe (Fig. 5 bottom inside, light yellow; in Fig. 3 pointing backwards) and the end links of the jaw probe (light yellow, in Fig. 5 between the feeler and lip probe, in Fig. 3 pointing forward) are elongated and big.

The pronotum is heart-shaped, wider than long, and clearly bordered. It reaches its greatest width halfway up, behind it it tapers in a straight line into the obtuse rear corners. The front corners are broadly rounded. The base of the pronotum is punctured . There is a deep pit on either side of the pronotum.

The elytra are almost parallel with the greatest width in the last third. They are each dotted with 11 stripes. On each side they have three clearly indented point pits in the third space.

Construction of the larva

The larva (Fig. 11) has a well sclerotized exoskeleton with three pairs of articulated legs that allow rapid locomotion. The paired abdominal appendages (urogomphi) arise on the divided ninth abdominal segment. These are articulated and finely haired. On the outside they have bristles, the number of which differs in the three larval stages. The head capsule is wider than the front breast, almost one and a half times as wide as it is long, and its sides are strongly rounded. There are six individual eyes on each side. The antennae are four-membered, the upper jaws are slender, strongly curved and pointed. The lower jaws are slightly longer than the antennae. The galea following the first limb of the lower jaw (stipes) is two-limbed, the second limb at the base is thick, then elongated like a rod. It doubles over the four-link jaw probe and has a sticky coating, which makes it difficult for prey to escape.

Way of life

The development from the egg to the finished beetle takes place in the warm season, the animal overwinters as an imago in tree stumps, under moss or heather . The eggs are laid in spring; the population maximum in Central Europe is in autumn. Imago and larva feed predatory, mainly on springtails . The beetle is mostly nocturnal. It reaches speeds of up to 20 cm per second, but it only moves jerkily over short distances. The antennae are beaten up over the prey, the long hair on it serves as a trap, from which the surprised prey can no longer escape. They are then crushed with the upper jaws.

Occurrence

Bristle-horn runners love moisture. They are bound to moist soft soils. They occur regularly and frequently in forests, on the banks of rivers and lakes, in moors, but also on a wide variety of agricultural crops. The species is considered a representative representative of the carabid fauna in agro-ecosystems. Some of the animals are insensitive to pesticides. They are also airworthy and like to colonize new habitats. They prefer open and lighter spaces, which is why they are often classified as open land species. They are just as often counted among the ubiquists . As part of the increase in ecologically operated cultivation areas, the species is listed in numerous accompanying studies. It seems to occur more frequently in conventional cultivation and intensive use than in organic cultivation and extensive use. From four types of cultivation of arable land, Loricera pilicornis preferred conventionally plowed areas over three ecological variants. The Käfer clearly preferred commercial grassland to five differently structured sub-areas of the adjacent fens. It is possible that the biodiversity of near-natural biotopes increases the competitive pressure for the species. According to Büchs, Loricera pilicornis cannot be counted among the important species in reducing pest populations.

distribution

The species is widespread in Europe, in Spain and the Balkans it is restricted to the north. The beetles are also found Holarctic in Asia and North America.

swell

• Heinz Joy, Karl Wilhelm Harde, Gustav Adolf Lohse: The beetles of Central Europe . tape 2 . Adephaga 1. Elsevier, Spektrum, Akad. Verl., Munich 1976, ISBN 3-87263-025-3 .
• Ekkehard Wachmann , Ralph Platen, Dieter Barndt: Ground beetles - observation, way of life . 1st edition. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-89440-125-7 .
• Svatopluk Bílý: Coléoptères, adaptation française Verlag Gründ 1990, ISBN 2-7000-1824-9
• Luff, MH 1993: The Carabidae (Coleoptera) larvae of Fennoscandia and Denmark Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica 27: 1-186

Web links

Commons : Black Krummhornkäfer  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Systematics and distribution: Fauna Europaea
• Page of the Rhenish coleopterologists on the Krummhorn beetle

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Red lists at BioNetworkX
2. ↑ Io. Christ. Fabricius: Systema Entomologiae Flensburg, Leipzig 1775 first description p. 243 No. 38
3. ↑ Sigmund Schenkling: Explanation of the scientific beetle names (species)
4. ↑ Sigmund Schenkling: Explanation of the scientific beetle names (genus)
5. ↑ Loricera pilicornis in Fauna Europaea. Retrieved March 17, 2013
6. ↑ Species of the genus Elaphrus at BioLib
7. ^ Thomas Bauer: 'Predation by a carabid beetle specialized for catching Collembola' Pedobiologia 24 (1982): 169-179
8. ↑ Ulrich Voigt, Diploma thesis: Characterization and evaluation of the fauna of structurally rich landscape elements in an intensively used agricultural area based on selected groups of beetles, Institute for Plant Protection and Plant Diseases of the University of Hanover, September 1989
9. ^ H. Rzehak, Th. Basedow: 'The effects of various insecticides on the epigean predatory arthropods in winter rape fields' Journal of Pest Science, Volume 55, Number 5, May 1982, pp 71-75
10. ↑ S.Albert, P.Hastir, T.Hance: 'Biodiversité agricole et lutte contre la mouche de la carotte' Notes fauniques de Gembloux, n ° 50 (2003): 3-8
11. ↑ Olaf Anderßon, dissertation: 'The carabid fauna on fruit-growing areas in the Altes Land near Hamburg with different intensities', University of Lüneburg, October 2005
12. ↑ G.Rahmann, W.Piper: 'Development of the ground beetle population Carabidae after five years of conversion of a large farm to organic farming in Northern Germany' 9th Scientific Conference on Organic Farming, archived at http://orgprints.org/view/projects/wissenschaftstagung-2007 .html
13. ↑ Christa Volkmar, Thomas Kreuter: 'On the biodiversity of spiders (Araneae) and ground beetles (Carabidae) on Saxon arable land' Mitt.Dtsch.Ges.Allg.Angew.Ent. 15, Giessen 2006 pp. 97-102
14. ↑ Andreas Meißner, dissertation: The importance of spatial structure for the choice of habitat of ground and rump beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae, Staphylinidae) 'Berlin 1998 D 83, ISBN 3-87903-071-5
15. ↑ Wolfgang Büchs: 'Possibilities and limits of greening agriculture', Federal Biological Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Berlin and Braunschweig, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-930037-24-6