Berber omeloe majalis
| Berber omeloe majalis | ||||||||||||
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Berber omeloe majalis |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Berber omeloe majalis | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
Berberomeloe majalis is a beetle from the family of the oil beetle (Meloidae) and is one of the largest beetles in Europe with up to 7 cm.
features
The beetles are 40 to 70 millimeters long, the females are slightly larger than the males. Her body is stocky and black in color. The orange-red stripes on the thickened abdomen are unmistakable, but they can vary greatly. The wings are significantly shorter than the abdomen and at the end they gape strongly apart.
Similar species
- Berberomeloe insignis : Has no orange-red stripes on the abdomen, but it is colored red on the temples, the species is rarely found in southwest Spain near the coast.
Occurrence
The animals occur in the Mediterranean part of Spain , also in North Africa ( Morocco to Tunisia ). They live on sunny, dry terrain in open grasslands or in forests with very loose trees, from the coast to heights of 3000 m in the Sierra Nevada .
Way of life
The adults feed on pollen . The larvae live exclusively parasitically , especially in the nests of solitary wild bees . The females lay around 2,000 to 10,000 eggs as the loss rates from false hosts and predators are very high.
development
The development of the approximately three millimeter long larvae proceeds via hypermetamorphosis , so the various larval stages are designed differently. The first stage is not developed as a tri-claw ( triungulinus ) as in Meloe's , by clinging to a potential host animal, but must actively seek out the host's nest ( wild bees ). After they have eaten the egg and then the mixture of nectar and pollen from the bee's pantry, they leave the nest. They shed their skin one more time and are then more maggot-like and barely mobile, with receded legs. These larvae pupate and the finished insect hatches out of the pupa . If the larva accidentally selects a honey bee , it will die in the beehive.
literature
- Bologna, MA (1989): Berberomeloe , a new west Mediterranean genus of Lyttini for Meloe majalis Linné (Coleoptera, Meloidae) Systematics and bionomics. Boll. Zool. , 55: 359-366.
- Garcá-París, M. (1998): revisión del género Berberomeloe (Coleoptera, Meloidae) y diagnosis de un endemismo ibérico olvidado. Graellsia , 54: 97-109.
