Scarlet fire beetle
| Scarlet fire beetle | ||||||||||||
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Scarlet fire beetle ( Pyrochroa coccinea ), female |
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| Pyrochroa coccinea | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1761) |
_-_(imago),_Nijmegen,_the_Netherlands.jpg)
The scarlet fire beetle ( Pyrochroa coccinea ) is a beetle from the fire beetle family (Pyrochroidae).
features
The beetles are 14 to 18 millimeters long and have a flat and wide body. The wing and pronotum are brightly red in color, the rest of the body is deep black. On the forehead of the black head, a slight, brown-red shimmer can be seen. The last link of the tarsi (i.e. the claw) is red-brown. The females have serrated antennae , the males combed antennae .
Similar species
- Red-headed fire beetle ( Pyrochroa serraticornis )
Occurrence
The animals are found all over Europe , north to south of Norway and central Sweden and Finland at forest edges and clearings. They are mainly found on blossoms and dead wood . They fly from May to June and are sometimes common.
Way of life
The adults suck sweet plant juices or honeydew from aphids . The larvae live under loose bark and take two to three years to develop. They feed predatory on insect larvae, sometimes also cannibalically on conspecifics. They have a very flat, yellowish to strong yellow colored body and have two thorns at the end of the abdomen. Pupation takes place in spring.
literature
- Heiko Bellmann: The New Cosmos Insect Guide , Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07682-2
- Jiři Zahradnik, Irmgard Jung, Dieter Jung et al .: Käfer Central and Northwestern Europe , Parey Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-490-27118-1
- 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
- Pyrochroa coccinea at Fauna Europaea