Oak leaf roller
| Oak leaf roller | ||||||||||||
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Oak leaf roller ( Attelabus nitens ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Attelabus nitens | ||||||||||||
| ( Scopoli , 1763) |
The Oak Leaf Roller ( Attelabus nitens ) is a beetle from the family of leafroller (Attelabidae). The species is also known as the red oak ball weevil.
features
Oak leaf rollers are about four to six millimeters long. The thorax and elytra are glossy red while the rest of the body is black in color. The body is rather stocky. A relatively wide extension can be clearly seen at the front of the head. The head and pronotum are finely dotted. There are fine vertical stripes of dots on the wing covers. The medium-length antennae thicken towards the end. The legs are quite long. The antennae and the pronotum are sometimes of variable colors; there are also specimens with red legs.
Synonyms
- Attelabus curculionoides Linnaeus , 1767
Occurrence
The beetles are especially widespread in southern Central Europe. They inhabit different habitats, but the occurrence of oaks and , more rarely, sweet chestnuts is mandatory. In the north of Europe the species can be found up to Denmark and in the south of Sweden . The beetles can be found locally in England and Scotland . Outside of Europe, the species lives in the Caucasus , Asia Minor , Middle East and Central Asia , as well as in Siberia .
Way of life
The animals feed on oak or sometimes sweet chestnut leaves. After mating, the female cuts an oak leaf from the sides, with the cuts leading to the midrib. Then both sides are folded in and the sheet is rolled up from the tip. The female then lays the eggs in there. The larva feeds on the leaf until the latter wilts and falls down. It then hibernates in it and pupates in the ground the next spring. The finished beetle hatches from the pupa. The larval development of the cuckoo weevil ( Lasiorhynchites sericeus ) also takes place in the leaf wraps, which itself does not produce leaf wraps, but as a space parasite lays an egg in each of the leaf wraps of Attelabus nitens .
credentials
- ↑ a b c Jiři Zahradník, Irmgard Jung, Dieter Jung et al .: Käfer Central and Northwestern Europe , Parey Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-490-27118-1
- ^ Attelabus (Attelabus) nitens (Scopoli 1763). Fauna Europaea, Version 1.3, April 19, 2007 , accessed on July 16, 2007 .
literature
- Edmund Reitter : Fauna Germanica - The beetles of the German Empire. Volume 5, KG Lutz, Stuttgart 1916
