Claviger longicornis

Claviger longicornis
	Claviger longicornis
Systematics
Order :	Beetle (Coleoptera)
Subordination :	Polyphaga
Family :	Kurzflügler (Staphylinidae)
Subfamily :	Pselaphinae
Genre :	Claviger (genus)
Type :	Claviger longicornis
Scientific name
	Claviger longicornis
	Müller , 1818

Claviger longicornis (also club beetle ) is a type of beetle of the family of the short-winged species (Staphylinidae) that lives exclusively in the nests of ant species.

description

The beetle is 2.4 to 2.7 millimeters long and has a red to yellow-brown basic color. The narrow head, more than twice as long as it is wide, has no eyes or any remains of them. The mouthparts are also strongly regressed and lie in a pit-like depression. At the back the head is constricted like a neck. The feelers are six-part, the first part sunk into the head capsule and not clearly visible. They are elongated, their third limb (i.e. the second visible one) is four times longer than wide and significantly longer than the fourth. Towards the end, the limbs are indistinctly widened like a club, without a detached antenna lobe. The pronotum is slightly wider than it is long, it has a conspicuous, round dimple in the middle of the base (that is the side towards the elytra). The shortened elytra are slightly shiny, without points or stripes. At the outer rear corners they each have a tuft of branched hair. The abdomen is short and wide, it is clearly enlarged towards the rear. On the upper side (dorsal) only three tergites can be seen, the first of which is very large. The legs have tripartite tarsi, the first and second limbs of which are very short.

Way of life

The rare beetle lives in the nests of the shadow ant ( Lasius umbratus ), more rarely other species of the subgenus Chthonolasius from the genus of the garden ants ( Lasius ); Lasius mixtus is also given . Information about other species of the genus Lasius is doubtful and can probably be explained from the biology of the host ants. Queens of Lasius umbratus do not establish new nests independently, but instead penetrate nests of other Lasius species, but are parasitized in the same way by the glossy black wood ant Lasius fuliginosus . Lasius umbratus usually nests deep in the ground, so the beetles are believed to be rarely collected. The related and similar red-brown club beetle ( Claviger testaceus ), on the other hand, is found together with the yellow meadow ant ( Lasius flavus ). Both Claviger species are said to have rarely been found in the same ant nest (as observed in Carinthia) .

Like all species of the genus Claviger , the species is completely dependent on its host ant and is only found in ant burrows ( myrmekophile species). The beetle infatuates its host ants with glandular secretions released in the tufts of hair, which, however, do not act as food, but apparently as intoxicants. The ants feed him and carry him to safety with their jaws when in danger. The beetle lives mainly on sunlit slopes in lowlands, but can go up to 1000 meters high.

distribution

The beetle is found in most of Europe, but is always very rare. Besides Claviger testaceus it is the most common species of the genus and with it the only Central European representative. Finds are from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean area. He lives in Germany in all parts of the country, but very rarely everywhere, and in Austria, while there is no evidence of lost property for Switzerland. Data from the Middle East (Turkey, up to the Caucasus) are uncertain, the species is no longer given in a more recent list for Turkey. In Germany it is on the Red List in Category 2, highly endangered.

Taxonomy

The species was from the naturalist and Pastor Philip Wilbrand Jacob Mueller described . Type locality is his hometown Odenbach . Claviger longicornis belongs to the subgenus Clavifer Laporte , 1835 and is its type species. The genus Claviger includes almost 40 species and is spread across the Palearctic . It belongs to the Supertribus Clavigeritae, a very species-rich group that includes exclusively myrmecophilic species.

Individual evidence

↑ Marek L. Borowiec, Rafał Ruta, Daniel Kubisz: New records of Claviger testaceus PREYSSLER, 1790 and C. longicornis MULLER, 1818 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae) in Poland with review of their habits . In: Polskie Pismo Entomologiczne . tape 79 , no. 3 , 2010, p. 261-269 ( PDF ).
↑ Lorenz Neuhäuser: Distribution and ecology of the palm beetle in Carinthia and the adjacent areas (Pselaphidae, Coleoptera). In: Carinthia II. 185/105. Year, Klagenfurt 1995, pp. 735–772 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
^ Ivan Löbl, Daniel Löbl: Catalog of Palaearctic Coleoptera. Hydrophiloidea-Staphylinoidea. Brill Scientific Publishers, 2nd revised edition 2015, ISBN 978-9-004-29685-5 , p. 375.
↑ Jussi Päivinen, Petri Ahlroth, Veijo Kaitala: Ant-associated beetles of Fennoscandia and Denmark. Entomologica Fennica 13, 2002, pp. 20-40.
↑ Sinan Anlaş: Distributional checklist of the Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) of Turkey, with new and additional records . In: Linz biological contributions . tape 41 , no. 1 , 2009, p. 215–342 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
↑ Remigius Geiser (Ed.): Red List of Beetles (Coleoptera), processing status 1997. In: BfN Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany. Series of publications for landscape management and nature conservation 55. Bonn / Bad Godesberg 1998, ISBN 3 89624 110 9 .
↑ PWJ Müller: contributions to the natural history of the species Claviger. Germar's Magazin der Entomologie 2, 1818, pp. 69-112 (with ill. On plate 2; full text source ).

swell

Claude Visits: 24. Family Pselaphidae. In: Heinz Freude, Karl Wilhelm Harde, Gustav Adolf Lohse (Hrsg.): Die Käfer Mitteleuropas. Volume 5. Goecke & Evers, Krefeld 1974, ISBN 3-87263-018-0 .
Heiko Bellmann: The New Cosmos Insect Guide . Franckh-Kosmos Verlag GmbH & Co., Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07682-2 .
Jiři Zahradnik: The Cosmos Insect Guide . Franckh-Kosmos Verlag GmbH & Co., Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-440-09388-3 .

Web links

Photo of the species at www.koleopterologie.de , accessed on March 15, 2016
Photos of the species at www.zin.ru , accessed on March 15, 2016

[1] Marek L. Borowiec, Rafał Ruta, Daniel Kubisz: New records of Claviger testaceus PREYSSLER, 1790 and C. longicornis MULLER, 1818 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae) in Poland with review of their habits . In: Polskie Pismo Entomologiczne . tape 79 , no. 3 , 2010, p. 261-269 ( PDF ).

[2] Lorenz Neuhäuser: Distribution and ecology of the palm beetle in Carinthia and the adjacent areas (Pselaphidae, Coleoptera). In: Carinthia II. 185/105. Year, Klagenfurt 1995, pp. 735–772 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).

[3] Ivan Löbl, Daniel Löbl: Catalog of Palaearctic Coleoptera. Hydrophiloidea-Staphylinoidea. Brill Scientific Publishers, 2nd revised edition 2015, ISBN 978-9-004-29685-5 , p. 375.

[4] Jussi Päivinen, Petri Ahlroth, Veijo Kaitala: Ant-associated beetles of Fennoscandia and Denmark. Entomologica Fennica 13, 2002, pp. 20-40.

[5] Sinan Anlaş: Distributional checklist of the Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) of Turkey, with new and additional records . In: Linz biological contributions . tape 41 , no. 1 , 2009, p. 215–342 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).

[6] Remigius Geiser (Ed.): Red List of Beetles (Coleoptera), processing status 1997. In: BfN Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany. Series of publications for landscape management and nature conservation 55. Bonn / Bad Godesberg 1998, ISBN 3 89624 110 9 .

[7] PWJ Müller: contributions to the natural history of the species Claviger. Germar's Magazin der Entomologie 2, 1818, pp. 69-112 (with ill. On plate 2; full text source ).