Lily of the valley chicken
| Lily of the valley chicken | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lily of the valley chicken ( Lilioceris merdigera ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lilioceris merdigera | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The lily of the valley chicken ( Lilioceris merdigera ) is a beetle from the leaf beetle family (Chrysomelidae).
features
The beetles are six to seven millimeters long and have a stocky build. The relatively small pronotum is shiny and bright red in color. It is clearly cut on the sides. The wings are also colored and have several rows of dots that reach to the tips of the wings. Unlike the similar lilies ( Lilioceris lilii ), the head and legs are predominantly red in color. The scutellum is also red in the lily of the valley chickens and black in the similar species.
Occurrence and way of life
The animals live in forests and on their edges, in fields and also in gardens. They can be found from April to September on lilies and leeks , such as the Turk's Union ( Lilium martagon ), lilies of the valley ( Convallaria majalis ), field yellow stars ( Gagea villosa ) or onions ( Allium cepa ) and garlic ( Allium sativum ), but also on Weisswurzen ( Polygonatum ) and asparagus ( Asparagus ). Both the adults and the larvae feed on the leaves of the plants and can cause damage if they occur heavily. The larvae live alone or socially and protect themselves with a dark cover made from their own excrement, which can also contain secondary metabolites from the host plant to ward off predators . The adults can generate chirping noises on the anal segment via their stridulation apparatus .
supporting documents
- Georg Möller, Reiner Grube, Ekkehard Wachmann : The Fauna Käferführer I - Beetles in and on the forest Fauna-Verlag, Nottuln 2006, ISBN 3-935980-25-6 .
- Jiři Zahradnik, Irmgard Jung, Dieter Jung et al .: Beetles of Central and Northwestern Europe. Parey, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-490-27118-1 .
- Michael Baum, Susanne Dobler: Poison is a matter of perspective: The Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) and the Onion Beetle (Lilioceris merdigera, Chrysomelidae, Criocerinae), 107th Annual Meeting of the German Zoological Society 2014, DOI: 10.13140 / RG. 2.2.23667.02082
Web links
- Lilioceris merdigera at Fauna Europaea
- www.insektenbox.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Baum, Susanne Dobler: Poison is a matter of perspective: The Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) and the Onion Beetle (Lilioceris merdigera, Chrysomelidae, Criocerinae) . In: Unpublished . 2014, doi : 10.13140 / rg.2.2.23667.02082 .