Red necked beetle
| Red necked beetle | ||||||||||||
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Red-necked beetle ( Oulema melanopus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Oulema melanopus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The red-necked beetle ( Oulema melanopus , also known as the great beetle or grass- leaf beetle ) is a beetle from the family of leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae).
features
The beetles are 4 to 4.5 millimeters long. Their pronotum is red, the wings are metallic blue, blue-green, green or rarely black. The pronotum is only slightly structured at the top and very finely and densely punctiform on the sides and basal. The antennae are dark, the legs yellow-orange. Only the ends of the splints ( tibia ) and tarsi are darkly colored. The second antenna segment has a square shape, the third and fourth are twice as long as they are wide, the fifth is more than twice as long as they are wide. The species can be confused with Oulema rufocyanea , whose wings are more coarsely dotted and whose second antennae are twice as long as they are wide. The fifth link is only one and a half times as long as it is wide.
Occurrence
The species occurs in the Palearctic and is represented in Europe north to south of Norway, central Sweden and Finland. It is common in the British Isles and was introduced into North America. It colonizes forest edges, dry slopes, fields and meadows as well as the banks of streams and rivers and also occurs in cities. One generation is trained every year. The flight time extends from April to June. The new generation occurs from July / August and overwinters.
Way of life
The females lay their up to 200 eggs individually or in small groups, preferably on grain leaves such as oats, barley and wheat, but also on grasses such as ball grass. The larvae hatch after about a week. They are covered in a dark slime. Pupation takes place 2 to 5 centimeters deep in the ground.
supporting documents
literature
- 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 .
Web links
- Photo gallery of beetles , with photos of beetles, larvae and images of damage