Ontholestes cingulatus
| Ontholestes cingulatus | ||||||||||||
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Ontholestes cingulatus |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ontholestes cingulatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Geoffroy , 1785) |
Ontholestes cingulatus is a North American beetle from the family of the short-winged (Staphylinidae).
features
The beetles reach a body length of 13 to a maximum of 21 millimeters. Their head, pronotum and wings are dark brown in color and densely haired with lighter hairs, tufts of black hair form black spots on all body regions. The abdominal end is covered by shiny golden hairs, which also form a belt below the thorax between the second and third pairs of legs. The legs are largely red-brown with a dark thigh ( femur ), the tarsi formula is 5-5-5, so all three legs each have 5 phalanges. The compound eyes are large and protruding. The antenna consists of 11 antenna links, the last of which are curved and thickened.
The larvae reach a maximum length of 25 millimeters and a width of about 4 millimeters.
Occurrence and way of life
The beetles are distributed over much of eastern and northwestern North America in the United States and Canada . They occur near wood, on mushrooms and also in the area of carrion or carcasses. The adult beetles feed on fly maggots, mites, beetle larvae and other small animals, the larvae on carrion and fungi.
The males of the beetles guard the females they mate while they lay their eggs in order to prevent copulation with other males. The eggs are laid on or near carrion and mushrooms. They pupate in small chambers in the ground or dung that they dug a few days beforehand. The puppet rest lasts 10 to 14 days.
The adults are active from spring to autumn. The beetles can fold their wings and fly off in a fraction of a second. When running, they keep their conspicuous buttocks raised; in case of danger they touch attackers with the abdomen and release a military secretion .
literature
- Lorus Milne, Margery Milne: Field Guide to Insects and Spiders. National Audubon Society, Chantacleer Press, 1980; Pp. 547-548. ISBN 0-394-50763-0 .
Web links
- Species portrait in the Entomology Collection