Fire beetle
| Fire beetle | ||||||||||||
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Scarlet Fire Beetle ( Pyrochroa coccinea ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pyrochroidae | ||||||||||||
| Latreille , 1807 |
The fire beetles or cardinals (Pyrochroidae) are a family of beetles that includes around 140 species worldwide. In Europe eight kinds occur, three of them are also represented in Central Europe. This beetle family owes its name to the striking red color of many of its species. In the vernacular, the term fire beetle is often wrongly used for the fire bug .
features
The fire beetles are 3 to 20 millimeters long and have a flat and elongated, but still broad body. It is usually conspicuously red to brick-red in color, the top of the body is finely haired. The head of the animals is large and flat and constricted at the base, the temples are clearly visible. The pronotum is slightly narrower than the wing wings and has a rounded shape. You can see impressions and a fine central furrow on it. The cover wings are widened at the back and have longitudinal grooves in some species. The antennae are short to about body length, have eleven links and are combed from the third link in the males, and completely sawed in the females. The legs have five tarsal links in the front and in the middle and four in the back. The penultimate tarsal link is heart-shaped.
Occurrence
The animals live in deciduous forests and on the edge of the forest. They are mainly found on blossoms and dead wood . In Central Europe they fly from May to June.
Way of life
The adults prefer to feed on sweet juices, for example honeydew from aphids or tree sap, but they rarely eat. The larvae , which have a strongly flattened body shape, live under the bark in either self-made or strange passages. Many species live predatory on other insects or their larvae, but most of them feed on fungi, contrary to what many sources claim. It takes two to three years to develop and pupation takes place in a pupa cradle between the wood and the bark. Since fire beetle larvae eat bark beetle larvae, among other things , they are considered beneficial insects .
Some species can be attracted by cantharidin , some fly to light at night, or can be attracted by fermented fruits.
Systematics
The fire beetle family includes 21 genera.
- Agnathus Germar, 1818
- Anisotria
- Cononotus Leconte, 1851
- Dendroides Latreille, 1810
- Exocalopus Broun, 1893
- Frontodendroidopsis Young, 2004
- Hemidendroid Ferrari, 1869
- Lithomacratria Wickham, 1914
- Malagaethes Pollock, 1995
- Neopyrochroa Blair, 1914
- Palaeopyrochroa Abdullah, 1965
- Pedilus Fischer von Waldheim, 1820
- Pogonoceromorphus Pic, 1921
- Pseudodendroides Blair, 1914
- Pseudodentroides
- Pseudopyrochroa Pic, 1906
- Pyrochroa Müller, 1764
- Ranomafana Pollock, 1995
- Schizotus Newman, 1838
- Techmessodes Broun, 1893
- Tydessa Peacock, 1982
Species (Central Europe)
- Scarlet Fire Beetle ( Pyrochroa coccinea )
- Red-headed fire beetle ( Pyrochroa serraticornis )
- Orange fire beetle ( Schizotus pectinicornis )
credentials
- ↑ Pyrochroidae. Fauna Europaea, accessed May 12, 2007 .
literature
- Jiři Zahradník, Irmgard Jung, Dieter Jung et al .: Beetles of Central and Northwestern Europe. Parey, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-490-27118-1 .
