Diced predator beetle
| Diced predator beetle | ||||||||||||
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Diced predatory beetle ( Ontholestes tessellatus ) on human excrement |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ontholestes tessellatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Geoffroy , 1785) |
The cubed predator beetle ( Ontholestes tessellatus ) is a beetle from the family of the short-winged beetles (Staphylinidae).
features
The beetles reach a body length of 14 to 19 millimeters. Their head, pronotum and wing are dark and marbled in gray and sometimes brown tones and hairy yellow-gray. Unlike the similar species Ontholestes murinus, the pronotum becomes narrower towards the base, and it has a slightly sloping notch on the sides. The back of the abdomen is mainly covered in black hair. The legs are partly colored yellow, otherwise black. The antennae are yellow to brownish at the base and darken towards the tip. They are a little stronger and longer than the similar species, whose antennae are also almost completely yellow. The compound eyes are large and about the same length as the temples of the males, the eyes of the females are a little longer.
Similar species
Occurrence and way of life
The animals occur in the northern area of the Palearctic including the British Isles and are absent in the Mediterranean area . They live in forests, meadows and fields and also in gardens. You can find them from spring to autumn on plant and animal remains and carcasses, preferably on cow dung and compost , but also on tree sap.
credentials
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 2 p. 117, 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 .
