Ant smooth beetle

Ant smooth beetle
Thorictodes heydeni
Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta) Order : Beetle (Coleoptera) Subordination : Polyphaga Superfamily : Bostrichoidea Family : Bacon beetle (Dermestidae) Subfamily : Ant smooth beetle
Scientific name
Thorictinae
Agassiz , 1846
Tribe
Thaumaphrastini Thorictini

The ant smooth beetles (Thorictinae) are a subfamily of the bacon beetles (Dermetidae), of which only one genus , Thorictus , with 75 species is native to the Mediterranean area in Europe.

Most ant smooth beetles live in ant burrows and are also fed by the ants ( ant guest ); they are myrmecophilous . They often mount the ants and let them carry them around.

Only the species Thorictus grandicollis can also be found in eastern Central Europe, north to Hungary and Slovakia. Thorictus grandicollis becomes 1.8 to 2.2 millimeters long and is red-brown in color. The body of the beetle is relatively broad and strongly arched, the 11-part antennae have a button-shaped antenna lobe (apparently one-part, in reality three parts). Thorictus grandicollis shows a special soothing behavior towards ants, which other species (e.g. Thorictus foreli ) do not know. When fallen on its back, the beetle becomes immobile, exposing its thoracic lateral-lower trichomes . It even allows the ants to feel and lick them. Thorictus grandicollis does not follow the ants odor traces.

The entrained in Europe type ( Neobiont ) Thorictodes heydeni probably comes from Southeast Asia. Thorictodes are known in Asia (China) as stored food pests (especially in rice ) and are not myrmecophilous.

Systematics

The ant smooth beetles are, depending on the author, classified as a subfamily (Thorictinae) or tribe (Thorictini), then in the subfamily Dermestinae. According to a study of the larval morphology, the subfamily view appears to be justified.

The subfamily Thorictinae is divided into two tribes :

• Thorictini  : 3 myrmecophile genera
  • Afrothorictus
  • Macrothorictus
  • Thorictus
    • Thorictus beali
    • Thorictus bifoveolatus
    • Thorictus crinitus
    • Thorictus foreli
    • Thorictus grandicollis , Syn . : Thorictus laticollis
    • Thorictus kaznakovi , Syn .: Thorictus babadjanidis , Thorictus hendeli , Thorictus lebedewi ,
    • Thorictus koenigi
    • Thorictus medvedevi
    • Thorictus pamirensis
• Thaumaphrastini : 1 non-myrmecophilic genus
  • Thoric deaths
    • Thorictodes heydeni (Neozoe in Europe)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thorictus grandicollis at Coleo-Net
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} R. Cammaerts, MC Cammaerts: SupAGENeric taxonomy, appeasement behavior, sex ratio and other aspects of the biology of the myrmecophilous beetle Thorictus grandicollis (Dermestidae, Thorictinae). In: Bulletin et Annales de la Société Royale Belge d'Entomologie , Volume 130, 1994.
3. ↑ Peter Frank Prevett: An investigation into storage problems of rice in Sierra Leone. In: Colonial Research Studies , Volume 28, 1959.
4. ↑ A. Herrmann, J. Háva, Zhang Sheng Fang: A contribution to knowledge of Dermestidae (Coleoptera) from China. In: Studies and Reports - Taxonomical Series , Volume 7, No. 1/2, 2011, pp. 131-138.
5. ^ JA Conway: Insects and other arthropods recorded on stored food commodities in Nepal and Bhutan. In: Tropical Science , Vol. 26, No. 3, 1986, pp. 145-162.
6. ↑ Tatjana Kiselyova & Joseph V. McHugh (2006): A phylogenetic study of Dermestidae (Coleoptera) based on larval morphology. Systematic Entomology 31: 469-507 doi : 10.1111 / j.1365-3113.2006.00335.x
7. ↑ RD Zhantiev: New and little known dermestid beetles of the genus Thorictus (Coleoptera, Dermestidae). In: Entomological Review , Volume 91, No. 8, 2011, pp. 1005-1010.

Web links

Commons : Ant smooth beetle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Thorictus at Fauna Europaea