Plant beetles

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Plant beetles
Sulfur beetle (Cteniopus flavus)

Sulfur beetle ( Cteniopus flavus )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Beetle (Coleoptera)
Subordination : Polyphaga
Superfamily : Tenebrionoidea
Family : Black beetle (Tenebrionidae)
Subfamily : Plant beetles
Scientific name
Alleculinae
Laporte , 1840

The plant beetles (Alleculinae) are a subfamily of the black beetles (Tenebrionidae).

features

The beetles are four to 14 millimeters long and are usually black-brown or yellow in color. A few species are shiny metallic. They have longitudinally grooved wing covers and large eyes. The antennae are eleven-limbed, long and deflected in front of the eyes and under the cheeks. The pronotum is usually wider than it is long and often semicircular in front. The claws are combed or toothed on the inside.

Way of life

The ways of life between the individual species are very different. Some are nocturnal, while others seek warmth and sun. The beetles live in tree sponges , in fungal wood, under loose bark , on flowers and on trees. They eat pollen . The females lay the eggs either in wood cracks or openings made by other wood dwellers, or in the ground. The larvae live in tree sponges or in rotten wood (Alleculinae), where they feed on mycelium-infiltrated wood. Soil-dwelling larvae (Omophilinae) live on plant remains, mold and also on living root tissue. After two to three years, the larvae pupate in a chamber.

Systematics

The plant beetles were previously regarded as an independent family and later placed as a subfamily to the black beetles . Around 2,600 species are known worldwide, around 150 species have been recorded in Europe , and around 30 species from eleven genera can be found in Central Europe .

Species in Europe

The following species occur in Europe:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jiři Zahradník, Irmgard Jung, Dieter Jung et al .: Käfer Central and Northwestern Europe , Parey Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-490-27118-1
  2. ↑ a b Alleculinae at Fauna Europaea. Retrieved June 8, 2018

literature

  • Edmund Reitter : Fauna Germanica - The beetles of the German Empire. Volume 3 p. 350, KG Lutz, Stuttgart 1911
  • Edmund Reitter: Fauna Germanica - The beetles of the German Empire. 5 volumes, Stuttgart KG Lutz 1908 - 1916, digital library volume 134, Directmedia Publishing GmbH, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-89853-534-7

Web links

Commons : Alleculinae  - collection of images, videos and audio files