Anophthalmus hitleri

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Anophthalmus hitleri
Anophthalmus hitleri HabitusDors.jpg

Anophthalmus hitleri

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Beetle (Coleoptera)
Family : Ground beetle (Carabidae)
Subfamily : Trechinae
Genre : Anophthalmos
Type : Anophthalmus hitleri
Scientific name
Anophthalmus hitleri
Scheibel , 1937

Anophthalmus hitleri is an eyelessbeetleabout 5 millimeters long,livingin caves in Slovenia and of brown color from the family of predatory ground beetles . Oscar Scheibel (1881–1953), an Austrian beetle collector who bought several copies for his collection and recognized them as a new species , named the beetle after Adolf Hitler in 1937.

features

Anophthalmus hitleri reaches a body length of 5 to 5.5 millimeters. It is reddish-brown in color and has short, barely visible hair on the top. The male is shiny, the female a little more dull.

The head is elongated with long mandibles , together with these it is about 1.5 times as long as it is wide. The head has the greatest width relatively far in front and the sides are evenly rounded without widening towards the back like a cheek. The frontal furrows diverge strongly towards the back. The antennae extend back to the middle of the elytra . They are slim and the first four links are in a ratio of 4: 3: 5: 5 to each other.

The pronotum is slightly wider than the head and about the same length as it is wide with the greatest width at the end of the first quarter. It is not heart-shaped and the sides narrow towards the back in a straight line. The side edge is finely edged and the only slightly elongated rear corners are not set off. The basal dimples are wide and deep. The legs are long and slender, with furrowed tibiae and broadened thighs .

The elytra are not quite twice as long as they are wide and have their greatest width slightly behind the middle with a width that is about 1.5 times the pronotum. They are slightly arched and slightly flattened along the wing seam. The shoulder area is very bevelled and indented. The side edge is straight up to the middle of the cover panel and then evenly rounded to the end. The puncturing is only slightly formed in the inner stripes and decreases further towards the outside. In the third row there are three bristle points, the first being in the first fifth, the second in the middle and the last in the back ninth of the wing cover. As with most insects, the shape of the aedeagus ("penis") plays a special role in classification. The aedeagus of Anophthalmus hitleri is very strong and "plump". It tapers abruptly to the tip, which is slightly bent up.

Way of life and occurrence

Anophthalmus hitleri is a predatory ground beetle. As a troglobionte species, it lives exclusively in caves and accordingly has characteristics typical of cave dwellers (troglomorphic characteristics) such as the missing eyes or the light coloration. It is endemic to the carbonate-rich cave systems of Slovenia .

According to Scheibel 1937, the species "inhabits" the hill country north of the Sann ( Savinja ) between Praßberg ( Mozirje ) and Cilli ( Celje ) and thus borders the distribution area of Anophthalmus bernhaueri in the east and that of Anophthalmus schaumi in the north and west. The first specimen of the species, a male, was caught in 1932 in a cave called “Steska jama” north of Žalec . Other specimens mentioned in the first description ( type specimens ) come from catches in 1932 and 1937 in caves called Josefistollen and Barbara near Mozirje, Polzela and Žalec.

designation

The generic name Anophthalmus means "eyeless" and refers to this anatomical feature of the animal. Regarding the choice of the specific epithet hitleri , Scheibel writes in the last sentence of his first description: Dedicated to the Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler as an expression of my admiration.

Due to the political development in Germany during the National Socialist era , which culminated in the Holocaust and World War II and for which Hitler was responsible, the designation was discussed several times. However, according to the internationally applicable rules of zoological nomenclature ( International Code of Zoological Nomenclature , ICZN), the name cannot be changed, since the priority rule for the first name applies here.

In media reports, the beetle is occasionally called the "Hitler Beetle". This is not a common trivial name , but a catchphrase that is effective in the media . Anophthalmus hitleri does not have an established German trivial name .

Collector's value

Due to its name, Anophthalmus hitleri is a sought-after collector's item, although those interested are less likely to be classic insect collectors who are interested in striking features or the aesthetics of the animal, but rather collectors of Nazi memorabilia. This threatens the beetle . The collectors value of the animals is high, individual collectors pay more than 1000 euros for a specimen and many beetles have been stolen from museum collections.

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g h i Oscar Scheibel: A new anophthalmos from Yugoslavia. Entomologische Blätter (Berlin), 33, 6, pp. 438-440, 1937
  2. ^ Tone Novak: Terrestrial fauna from cavities in northern and central Slovenia, and a review of systematically ecologically investigated cavities. (PDF; 1.3 MB) Acta carsologica 34, 1, pp. 169-210, 2005
  3. Rose George: A beetle called Hitler. ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Independent , April 2002 (accessed February 2008). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / rosegeorge.com
  4. Hitler lives in a cave in Slovenia In FAZ August 17, 2006
  5. Beetle named after Hitler selling for EUR 1,000 ( Memento from March 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). In: expatica.com , March 11, 2007.