Big doll robber
| Big doll robber | ||||||||||||
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Large pupa predator ( Calosoma sycophanta ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Calosoma sycophanta | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The great pupa predator ( Calosoma sycophanta ) is a beetle from the family of ground beetles (Carabidae) and belongs to the genus of pupa predators ( Calosoma ).
features
With a body length of 17.5 to 28 millimeters, the large doll predator is the largest type of doll predator in Europe . It is mostly blue-black in color and has gold-green and slightly reddish colored, longitudinally grooved wings . In some specimens, the wings are mainly red, the head and pronotum purple, or the body black and only the edges of the wings are green. The side edge of the pronotum is strongly rounded and completely hemmed. Larger points can be seen between the grooves of the wings.
Occurrence
The animals are found in the entire Palearctic except in the far north. In North America and Java they were introduced for biological pest control in the early 20th century. They live in coniferous and deciduous forests and on their edges, sometimes in gardens or on the coast. You can find them from the lowlands up to an altitude of about 1,500 meters. In Austria the species is common, but rare.
Way of life
The big puppet robbers are diurnal predators and climb trees when hunting. Their diet consists mainly of caterpillars and pupae of butterflies and sawfly . One beetle eats around 400 caterpillars in one season. The larvae also predatory feed on caterpillars and pupae. Hibernation takes place in the ground as a fully-grown animal, the beetles can live up to three years.
Biological pest control
The idea of pest control with the help of beetles apparently goes back to the French scientist Réaumur . His proposal was implemented between 1905 and 1910. Approximately 6,000 dolls robbers were brought from Europe to America to fight against the gypsy moth ( Lymantria dispar s) and brown-tail ( Euproctis chrysorrhoea to be) used. The previously reproduced animals have spread rapidly in North America.
Even Linnaeus has dealt with this idea:
I tried to get seeds from these to sprinkle under the trees, but when I caught the larger carabos and put them in boxes, thinking I was getting seeds from them, they ate each other. If you go into dense forests in the summer, where trunks and stumps are lying around almost rotten, and you tear them in two, you will find a lot of larger carabis that live here and lay their eggs. You should take these carefully and, as long as you can get whole pieces, and put them in the garden, near the trees, preferably on the north side, so that half of the rotten wood would lie in the ground and half over it. In this way you get the carabos in the garden, which do no harm to the plants, but climb the trees every night and there cruelly deal with the caterpillars and eat them there in a short time. This is one of the most noble remedies, which helps if not in the first year, at least in the second and third; but after a few years it should be renewed.
Meaning of the scientific name
While Calosoma pronounces an aesthetic judgment (Greek καλός kalós "beautiful", σώμα sōma "body"), a sycophant (Greek συκοφάντης sykophántēs , Latinized sycophanta ) in ancient Athens was a "strict watcher" (in today's Greek, however, "slanderous ) - similar to the (Latin) inquisitor ("searcher").
credentials
- ↑ Jürgen Trautner, The great pupa robber Calosoma sycophanta (LINNÉ, 1758) in southwest Germany (Coleoptera: Carabidae). Current and historical distribution, biology, habitat, endangerment and protection. - Communications from the International Entomological Association Frankfurt / Main, 21: 81-104, 1996, ISSN 1019-2808
- ^ A b Bernhard Klausnitzer : Beetle . Nikol Verlag, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-937-87215-9
literature
- Erik Arndt: Carabidae family . In: Bernhard Klausnitzer (ed.): Die Käfer Mitteleuropas, Volume L1: Adephaga . Spectrum , Heidelberg 1999, ISBN 978-3-8274-0698-9 . (Volumes L1-L6 contain illustrated dichotomous identification keys for all larval stages of the beetles with information on the habitats with line drawings and photos.)
- Anke Dücker: Ground beetles . 3rd edition, German Youth Association for Nature Observation , Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-923376-18-9 .
- Gerd Müller-Motzfeld (ed.): The beetles of Central Europe. Volume 2: Adephaga. 1. Carabidae (ground beetles) . Spectrum , Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 978-3-8274-1551-6 .
- Ekkehard Wachmann , Ralph Platen, Dieter Barndt: Ground beetles - observation, way of life . Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-89440-125-7 .
- Jiři Zahradník: Beetles of Central and Northwestern Europe. An identification book for biologists and nature lovers . Translation by Martin Rosch, Parey, Hamburg / Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-490-27118-1 .
- Michael Chinery: Parey's Book of Insects. Over 2000 insects in Europe. 2nd edition, Kosmos , Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-440-13289-0
