Big bombardier beetle
| Big bombardier beetle | ||||||||||||
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Large bombardier beetle ( Brachinus crepitans ) |
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| Brachinus crepitans | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) | ||||||||||||
The large bombardier beetle ( Brachinus crepitans ) is a ground beetle from the subfamily of the bombardier beetles (Brachininae).
features
The beetles are 6.3 to 10.2 millimeters long, making them the largest representatives of their genus in Central Europe . The wings are blue, green or black-blue and finely grooved, the head, pronotum , scutellum , antennae and legs are yellow-red. The third and fourth antennae and sometimes some of the legs are darkly colored. Somewhat enlarged, you can see attached hair all over the body. Like all bombardier beetles, the large bombardier beetle also has an explosive device on its abdomen, which it uses to defend itself against predators by blowing irritating and foul-smelling gases from two tubes in its abdomen directly into the attacker's face (see bombardier beetle ).
Occurrence
The animals occur in Europe , except in the far north, east to Siberia on Lake Baikal . They live in dry heathland areas , on dry grassland , in fields and vineyards with calcareous soil. They occur primarily in warm, higher altitudes, but also in lower altitudes. They can be found under stones and other hiding spots, often in small groups.
development
In spring, the eggs are laid individually on soil particles or in egg chambers made from fine mud. They apparently serve to protect the egg. The eggs are whitish and slightly opaque. Their shape is elongated oval with a longitudinal diameter of 0.88 and a transverse diameter of 0.39 millimeters. The hatched larvae have the shape typical of ground beetles, elongated with well-developed legs. They hatch white and darken a little in the first six hours. You immediately go in search of a beetle doll. If they are successful, they will occasionally continue the search. With increasing age, the tendency to stay with the found doll increases. This happens on average after 3.2 days (the times given relate to a laboratory test). Only species of the genus Amara are currently known as hosts . As soon as a pupa is accepted, the larvae start to feed on it. They attack body attachments first. They bite through the outer skin of the doll in several places and lick up the escaping liquid. It takes an average of 5.4 days to molt to the second larval stage. In the second and third instar, the larvae resemble caterpillars, they are white and have poorly developed legs. In the first and second larval stage only the hemolymph of the pupa is ingested, in the third and last larval stage the tissue of the pupa is also eaten. The pupa dies during the second larval stage when the larvae attack the intersegmental membranes. The second larval stage lasts an average of 2.8 days. In the third larval stage, the host pupa is completely eaten up, after which the larvae remain immobile for several days next to the eaten pupal shell. The eating phase of the third and last stage lasts an average of 1.5 days, the subsequent rest phase 4.5 days. The doll already shows the shape of the finished image . The imago hatches after an average of 9.6 days, the overall development after hatching from the egg takes twenty-four days.
literature
- Ekkehard Wachmann , Ralph Platen, Dieter Barndt: Ground beetles - observation, way of life . Naturbuch Verlag, Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-89440-125-7
- Jiři Zahradnik, Irmgard Jung, Dieter Jung et al .: Beetles of Central and Northwestern Europe. Parey, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-490-27118-1 .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Pavel Saska, Alois Hone: Development of the Beetle Parasitoids Brachinus explodens and Brachinus crepitans (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Journal of Zoology Vol 226; Issue 1, p. 29-36 January 2004
