Variable jewel beetle
| Variable jewel beetle | ||||||||||||
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Variable jewel beetle ( Ptosima undecimmaculata undecimmaculata ) |
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| Ptosima undecimmaculata undecimmaculata | ||||||||||||
| ( Autumn , 1784) |
The variable jewel beetle ( sloe jewel beetle , point shield jewel beetle ) is the only European jewel beetle from the genus Ptosima . It is still listed as a species Ptosima flavoguttata at Freude-Harde-Lohse , according to Fauna Europaea it is classified as a subspecies Ptosima undecimmaculata undecimamculata . The beetle becomes seven to thirteen millimeters long.
Like most jewel beetles, the species is specially protected by law in accordance with the Federal Species Protection Ordinance. In the Red List of Endangered Species in Germany, the species is listed under Category 2 (endangered), in Rhineland-Palatinate it is considered to be critically endangered .
Comments on the name and the system
The species was first described in autumn 1784 under the name Buprestis undecimmaculata . Because of the great variability, the species or varieties thereof were later published under numerous names.
- by Illiger 1803 Ptosima flavoguttata
- by Fabricius 1775 Buprestis novemmaculata
- Pic 1903 brevinota ptosima , 1905 multimaculata , 1909 quadrimaculata , maculiceps , signata , aegyptiaca , viturati and notaticollis 1918 fauconetti leprieuri , lugdunensis , servillorum and intermedia , 1919 immaculata , libanensis , mediojuncta , adanensis , bimaculata and lateralis , 1920 taurusiensis
- from Villa & Villa 1833 Ptosima confusa
- from Marseul 1865 Ptosima cyclops ,
- from Demaison 1904 Ptosima intermedia
- by Voet 1806 Ptosima istria
- by Villers 1789 Buprestis sexpunctata
- von Obenberger 1926 Ptosima pici
- from Mequignon 1928 Ptosima posticebimaculata
- by Villers 1789 Buprestis sexmaculata
- by Baudi 1870 Ptosima tredecimmaculata
The species name novemmaculāta (from Latin nóvem, nine and maculātus, spotted) indicates that the beetles have nine spots. As the many synonyms show, there are numerous exceptions. This also emphasizes the word "variable" in the German name. The species name flavoguttāta (from Latin flávus, yellow and guttātus, dipped) does not depend on the number of yellow spots.
The genus was established by Solier in 1833. The generic name Ptosima is from Altgr. πτώσιμος ptōsimos "fallen" derived. It refers to the fact that the beetle drops quickly when approaching.
The genus Ptosima is represented by only one species in Europe, there are thirteen species worldwide.
description
| Images of the variable jewel beetle | |
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| Image 4: from the side | |
| Image 1: from above |
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| Image 2: from the front | |
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Image 5: Partial view of the underside on the right, partially colored green: Prosternal process of the front breast blue: middle breast ocher: rear breast orange: rear hips |
| Image 3: from below | |
The body of the variable jewel beetle is cylindrical, flattened on the upper side (Fig. 1, Fig. 4). Seen from the front, it looks box-shaped (Fig. 2). It is glossy black with a bluish tinge and yellow spots that can vary greatly in shape and number. He is gray-white haired. Head and neck shield appear because of their very fine dotting a little less shiny than the elytra .
The head is much wider than it is long and significantly narrower than the pronotum . The males have a yellow patch on their forehead. The upper lip is rectangular and slightly cut out in front. The upper jaws are strongly curved and three-toothed, the inside cut out at the top. The jaw probe end link is spindle-shaped (can be seen in Figure 2). The end link of the lip switch is short, cylindrical and trimmed. The antennae are eleven, the last eight antennae segments bluntly sawn inwards. The rear edge of the eyes is close to the pronotum (temples short).
The pronotum ends in a straight line at the base. There are no, two or four yellow spots on it. The hair is directed forward.
The elytra are at the base the same width as the pronotum. Behind the base, they run almost parallel. At the back they become increasingly narrow. At the end they are individually rounded and finely indented. Each wing cover has up to three larger ones and a small yellow spot at the tip. These can also merge with one another and do not have to be symmetrical on the two wing covers. The label is small and rounded, but clearly visible.
The cavities of the front hips are open at the back. The fore hips are separated by an extension of the fore chest (Prosternatl process, image 5, right green), which, however, does not bridge the middle chest. The rear hips (Fig. 5, right orange) lie broadly against the rear chest and are hollowed out to partially accommodate the rear thighs. The tarsi of the legs are all five-limbed, the claws are serrated at the base.
The first two sections of the abdomen are fused together at the bottom (sternites).
Occurrence
The mutable jewel beetle occurs around the Mediterranean (circummediteran) mainly in southern Europe and North Africa and is widespread from east to near east. The species penetrates from southern Europe into the Valais , from the east via Austria and the warmer areas of southern Germany to the southern Rhineland . They are rare in Germany and are under nature protection there (Red List of Protected Animals in Germany, Category 2).
In Crete it is represented by the subspecies Ptosima undecimmaculata metallescens (Bílý 1982). The larvae live in the wood of rose plants , especially in fruit trees.
biology
Host plants are mainly sloes, occasionally also hawthorn, sour cherry and cherry and other fruit tree species. Branches and thinner trunks in warm and dry locations are attacked.
When laying eggs on sloe, the females retreat into the shadows inside the bushes and move their abdomen in search of suitable places to lay their eggs. Presumably the eggs are deposited individually.
The larvae feed on both the sapwood and the heartwood, older larvae tend to feed in deeper areas. The larval ducts run mainly in the longitudinal direction of the branches, often parallel to each other when the infestation is severe. The larvae are curved in a horseshoe shape in the feeding tunnels, with their head and abdomen pointing in the feeding direction. The drill dust is pushed back into the passage with the abdomen and the passage is plugged with it. Young larvae are whitish, later larval stages yellowish. The development takes two or more years in Germany. The doll's cradle will probably be put on in autumn. For this purpose, the normally flattened feeding tunnel is widened to a circular cross-section and then arched to just below the surface, so that the end of the tunnel is oriented approximately perpendicular to the surface. Then the larva pulls back a little and blocks the future exit. The newly hatched beetle overwinters in the pupa chamber and leaves it in the coming spring. The loopholes are circular.
The beetles appear in late spring. During the hot time of day, they sit on sunlit leaves in the outer area of the host plant. The beetle usually only flies short distances to another branch. If alarmed, he drops. It gnaws branches of the host plant.
swell
literature
- Fritz Brechtel, Hans Kostenbader (ed.): The splendor and stag beetles of Baden-Württemberg . Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3526-4 .
- Heinz Joy, Karl Wilhelm Harde, Gustav Adolf Lohse: The beetles of Central Europe . tape 6 : Diversicornia . Spectrum, Heidelberg 1979, ISBN 3-87263-027-X .
- Klaus Koch : The Beetles of Central Europe Ecology . 1st edition. tape 2 . Goecke & Evers, Krefeld 1989, ISBN 3-87263-040-7 . P. 90
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Heinz Freude, Karl Wilhelm Harde, Gustav Adolf Lohse: Die Käfer Mitteleuropas . tape 6 : Diversicornia . Spectrum, Heidelberg 1979, ISBN 3-87263-027-X .
- ↑ a b c Fauna Europaea, P. undecimmaculata, accessed Nov. 7, 2007
- ↑ a b Fritz Brechtel, Hans Kostenbader (ed.): The splendor and stag beetles of Baden-Württemberg , Eugen Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3526-4
- ↑ Red lists at BioNetworkX
- ↑ a b Fauna Europaea, P. undecimmaculata undecimmaculata, accessed Nov. 7, 2007
- ^ M. Solier: Essai sur les Buprestides , Annales de la société entomologique de France, II, Volume, 1833 Description p. 277
- ↑ Sigmund Schenkling: Nomenclator coleopterologus 2nd edition Jena 1922 Explanation of the scientific beetle names (genus) in short form
- ↑ Species of the genus Ptosima at BioLib
- ↑ G. Jäger (Ed.): CG Calwer 's Käferbuch . K. Thienemanns, Stuttgart 1876, 3rd edition
- ^ Fauna Europaea, P. undecimmaculata metallescens, accessed Nov. 7, 2007
