Blue neck fast runner
| Blue neck fast runner | ||||||||||||
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Blue-necked fast runner ( Diachromus germanus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Diachromus germanus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The blue neck fast runner , also colored fast runner ( Diachromus germanus ) is a beetle from the family of ground beetles and the subfamily of Harpalinae .
The generic name Diachromus is from Altgr. διά diá "through" and χρῶμα chrōma "color" derived. The species name germanus ( Latin ) means "German" or "brother". One can only speculate about the meaning of the two names. The part of the name "blue neck " refers to the blue-green pronotum , the name "fast runner" is often used for species of the subfamily Harpalinae.
Characteristics of the beetle
The beetle grows to eight to ten millimeters. It has a broad head with forward-facing mouthparts , a heart-shaped pronotum and striped elytra . These widen slightly towards the rear over two thirds of their length and then end together in a semicircular rounded shape. Shortly before the end, the sides of the wing covers are slightly wavy. The top is hairy protruding short. The coloring is unmistakable. The head, legs, antennae and most of the wing cover are red-yellow, on both wing covers together there is a large dark, bluish spot at the end. The pronotum is intensely blue-green except for the fine lateral margin.
The head and pronotum are dense of medium strength, the elytra are dense, finely dotted . On the head there is only one bristle (supraorbital eta) on each side a little behind the middle of the upper edge of the dark eyes . These are moderately prominent. The antennae are eleven-limbed, thread-like and hairy from the second half of the third limb (Fig. 1)
The five-limbed tarsi of the front legs and the middle pair of legs are widened in the males (Fig. 2) and have brush-like hairs on the underside. The first hind artery link is as long as the second and third combined.
biology
The beetles live phytophagus , they prefer to eat immature grass seeds. The species can be found in the plains and lower mountain ranges, often sociable under stones. The heat-loving species is reported from forest edges, gardens, fields and ruderal areas, especially on sandy soil.
distribution
The species has its distribution center in the Mediterranean area, the northern limit of the distribution area runs through Germany, where an advance to the north has been observed since the early 1980s. The species is also known from the Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain, the Caucasus and western Asia.
literature
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 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Proof of German name ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Diachromus germanus at Fauna Europaea. Retrieved February 11, 2011
- ↑ Sigmund Schenkling: Explanation of the scientific beetle names
- ↑ a b Polish coleopterological website
