Dark fly beetle

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Dark fly beetle
Dark fly beetle 4042.JPG

Dark fly beetle ( Cantharis obscura )

Systematics
Family : Soft beetle (Cantharidae)
Subfamily : Cantharinae
Tribe : Cantharini
Genre : Cantharis
Subgenus : Cantharis
Type : Dark fly beetle
Scientific name
Cantharis obscura
Linnaeus , 1758
Dark fly beetle is cleaning itself

The Dark Flying beetles or oak Weichkäfer ( Cantharis obscura ) is a beetle from the family of the soldier beetles (Cantharidae).

features

The beetles reach a body length of 9 to 13 millimeters. They have a black body color, only the sides of the pronotum , the maxillary palps , the cheeks and the underside of the first and second antennae are yellow to yellow-orange. The entire top of the body is close-fitting, finely lightly haired. The pronotum is slightly wider than it is long and clearly rounded on the sides. The second and third antennae of the males, unlike in the similar species Cantharis liburnica, are not thickened. The dark fly beetle can only be distinguished from this species and also from Cantharis paradoxa on the basis of a genital examination .

Similar species

Occurrence

The animals occur in Europe and in western Asia , also north of the Arctic Circle . In the British Isles the species can only be observed in places. You can find them from the lowlands to the tree line .

Way of life

The adults feed both predatory on insects, such as aphids , and on vegetable food, such as the flowers of fruit trees. The females lay their eggs in moist soil. From these first slip pre-larvae, which after about 12 days for the larvae molt. These live predatory on small insects and other living things. Pupation takes place in a doll's cradle .

swell

literature

  • Jiří Zahradník : Beetles of Central and Northwestern Europe. An identification book for biologists and nature lovers. Parey, Hamburg et al. 1985, ISBN 3-490-27118-1 .
  • Edmund Reitter : Fauna Germanica - The beetles of the German Empire. Volume 3 p. 257, KG Lutz, Stuttgart 1912
  • Edmund Reitter : Fauna Germanica. The beetles of the German Reich (= digital library . 134). Neusatz and facsimile of the 5-volume edition Stuttgart 1908 to 1916. Directmedia Publishing, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-89853-534-7 .

Web links

Commons : Dark Fly Beetle  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files