Prosopocoilus astacoides
| Prosopocoilus astacoides | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Prosopocoilus astacoides elaphus |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Prosopocoilus astacoides | ||||||||||||
| ( Hope , 1840) |
Prosopocoilus astacoides is a species of beetle from the Schröter family(Lucanidae). The species wasdescribedby Frederick William Hope in 1860. Among insect collectors , the beetle is also known as the wine-red antler beetle.
features
The males of Prosopocoilus astacoides can reach a total length of up to 70 mm. The females remain significantly smaller at 20 to 30 mm. The animals are colored orange-brown. Depending on the subspecies, they are also orange-yellow or completely brown. The males of Prosopocoilus astacoides , like many species from the Schröter family, have very enlarged mandibles that they use to fight for females or for feeding grounds.
distribution
Prosopocoilus astacoides has a wide distribution area in tropical Asia such. B. in Thailand , Indonesia , Taiwan , China and Malaysia . Subspecies can be distinguished in different geographic regions.
Way of life
The predominantly nocturnal beetles cannot eat solid food due to their transformed jaws. For this reason, they lick up leaking tree sap or fermenting fruit juices with their brush-like tongue. The beetles are rarely seen during the day.
After mating, the females of Prosopocoilus astacoides look for an egg-laying place. The eggs are either laid directly in rotten wood or they are buried in the forest floor in close proximity to rotten wood. The larvae that hatch from the eggs feed on white rotten wood and humus . When the larvae have completed the third instar and are ready to pupate, they create a chamber the size of a hen's egg in the wood or in the forest floor. The larva pupates in this cocoon . After 6–8 months, the fully developed beetle hatches from the pupal skin. After another 2 inactive months in the cocoon, which the beetle needs to harden its chitin shell and fully develop its internal organs, it slips out of the cocoon and immediately starts looking for a reproductive partner and a source of food.
When the finished beetles hatch from the cocoon, they have a life expectancy of around 4–6 months. The males usually get older than the females.
Research history
The beetle was described as Lucanus astacoides by Frederick William Hope in 1840 . Hope chose the epithet astacoides after the antler-hard mandibles of the male of this stag beetle, which are reminiscent of the claws of the lobsters , which belong to the Astacidea infraorder . The species had been discovered by William Griffith of Madras Medical Service on an expedition to Assam and sent to England. The type copy is kept in the Hope Department of the Oxford University Museum.
The species was later placed in the genus Metopodontus , which, together with the genera Prosopocoilus and Palidoremus, was initially combined with the genus Cladognathus , but was separated again a little later.
Subspecies
Several subspecies are known, including:
- Prosopocoilus astacoides blanchardi , native to Taiwan and Korea .
- Prosopocoilus astacoides castaneus
- Prosopocoilus astacoides cinnamomeus
Prosopocoilus astacoides blanchardi
Prosopocoilus astacoides castaneus
Prosopocoilus astacoides cinnamomeus
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ^ Frederick William Hope : Descriptions of some Nondiscript Insects from Assam. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, 18, (1840), 1841, p. 590 (first description, Latin)
- ^ Frederick William Hope : Descriptions of some Nondiscript Insects from Assam. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, 18, (1840), 1841, p. 590 Scan of page 590 in Wikisource
- ↑ Sang Il Kim & Jin Ill Kim: Review of family Lucanidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) in Korea with the description of one new species. Entomological Research, 40, 1, pp. 55-81, January 2010
Web links
- http://bugman.npage.de/prosopocoilus_astacoides_24708985.html (accessed on November 2, 2011)
literature
- Frederick William Hope : Descriptions of some Nondiscript Insects from Assam. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, 18, (1840), 1841, p. 590 (first description)
- FJ Sidney Parry: A Catalog of Lucanoid Coleoptera. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, Third Series, 2, 1, 1864
- FJ Sidney Parry: A Revised Catalog of the Lucanoid Coleoptera, with Remarks on the Nomenclature, and Descriptions of New Species. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 1870
