Black pine jewel beetle

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Black pine jewel beetle
Black pine jewel beetle on red pine bark

Black pine jewel beetle on red pine bark

Systematics
Order : Beetle (Coleoptera)
Subordination : Polyphaga
Family : Jewel beetle (Buprestidae)
Subfamily : Buprestinae
Genre : Melanophila
Type : Black pine jewel beetle
Scientific name
Melanophila acuminata
( De Geer , 1774)

The black pine jewel beetle ( Melanophila acuminata ) is a representative of the genus Melanophila that also occurs in Central Europe and comprises 15 species in the Holarctic . In addition to Europe, Asia and North America (from Mexico to Alaska and Newfoundland) and the Caribbean (with Cuba) also belong to the range of the species.

features

The head of the 8 to 11 mm long and monochrome black beetle is quite large and super-elliptical when viewed from above . The forehead (front) bears a longitudinal impression. The antennae are laid back a little behind the posterior corners of the pronotum, the antennae segments are weakly triangular and saw-shaped widened from the fourth segment on. The throat plate (pronotum) is almost rectangular, the sides very weak rounded, forward and backward little narrower and fine net-like sculpted and weak punctured. The elytra (elytra) are glabrous, slightly wider than the dotted pronotum, they are matt black, dense and irregular, without ribs, but with flat longitudinal impressions. They are drawn out into a tooth-shaped point on both sides (species name: acuminata, Latin for "pointed"). The mesothoracic infrared sense organs are characteristic.

Way of life

This species became known for its pyrophilia (“love of fire”): the adult beetles respond to forest fires, as the larvae can only develop in the bast from fire on dead trees; they are incapable of preventing the natural defense reaction of living trees against a. overcome by resin . The species is not fussy about wood species, it has been detected in more than 30 tree species, including deciduous and coniferous trees. Most of the evidence is available from pine species (genus Pinus ), presumably because they are particularly at risk of fire. In general searches, the beetle is considered rare. However, if fire spots are specifically evaluated, it is very widespread and often occurs in enormous numbers of individuals. In 1998, for example, almost all of the forest fires investigated in eastern Germany were found to spread across the board. Similar observations are available from Austria. In England, however, the species is said to be very rare, possibly only introduced, and is now restricted to the area around Ascot.

Adults of the species occur from June to October. After mating, the females lay eggs on trees that are often still smoldering. But also burned trees from the previous year may still be used to lay eggs. The white larvae with a thick thorax , a small black head and a thin abdomen ("Buprestis type") develop under the bark, pupate and usually do not become an imago until the next spring. They occur together with similar larvae of the jewel beetle genera Phaenops (see blue pine jewel beetle ) or Anthaxia (see four-point pine jewel beetle ), which also attack weakened pines, but have no relation to fires.

Sensory physiological details

The beetles ready to mate are initially attracted by guaiacol and its derivatives in the smoke. You perceive this with chemical sensory receptors in the feelers; even when there is a fire several kilometers away. Further orientation takes place by means of the infrared-sensitive pit organs on the hips ( coxes ) of the middle legs, which are also effective over considerable distances. At the base of the pit there are around 50 to 100 domed sensillae . These are accompanied by wax glands, so that the pit in the living animal is filled with wax. Due to the fine structure of the sensilla, it can be assumed that these originated from mechanoreceptive hair-sense organs. The stimulus perception is therefore probably mechanical, through a heat-induced change in volume of the dome, which generates a pressure stimulus. It was possible to demonstrate by conducting electrodes that infrared radiation alone (without the involvement of visible light) excites the receptors. Due to the position of the pits, infrared radiation is mainly perceived from below and from the side, which also appears particularly beneficial for orientation in flight. Bionics are interested in recreating analog technical receptors for fire alarms .

Technical applicability

Bionic scientists are researching the functional principle of the sensory organ of Melanophila acuminata in order to translate it into technical applications. The realization lies in the development of a technical nose that is able to determine and locate gases of the lowest concentrations, for example in order to trigger a fire alarm. The beetle's sensor works independently of normal and slow temperature fluctuations in the environment.

Danger

In the entire range, the species can almost have disappeared for years and then suddenly reappear after forest fires. The classification in the Red Lists is therefore only of limited informative value. Melanophila acuminata is listed in the Red List for Germany in category 2 (“highly endangered”).

supporting documents

Individual evidence

  1. Coleopterists Society: Genus Melanophila ( Memento of the original from August 24, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / coleopsoc.org
  2. ^ Donald E. Bright: The metallic wood-boring beetles of Canada and Alaska: Coleoptera: Buprestidae (The Insects and arachnids of Canada) Biosystematics Research Center, Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, 1987. online: PDF ( Memento des Originals from 16. March 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (18.9 MB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.esc-sec.ca
  3. Sigmund Schenkling: Explanation of the scientific beetle names (species)
  4. www.entomologie.de: Black pine jewel beetle - Melanophila acuminata (DEGEER)
  5. KH Apel (1998): On the distribution of Melanophila acuminata DEG. (Col., Buprestidae). Entomological News and Reports 33: 278-279.
  6. Franz Ressl (1969): On some living for signs of burning beetle species. Entomological News Sheet, Volume 16: 55-56. Download
  7. ^ Brian Levey: Coleoptera Buprestidae. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects Vol. V, Part 1 (b). Published by the Royal Entomological Society of London, 1977.
  8. Keith NA Alexander (2002): The invertebrates of living and decaying timber in Britain & Ireland. English Nature Research Reports Number 467.
  9. Gretchen Jehle: Infrared detection in three pyrophilous beetles: Melanophila acuminata , Merimna atrata , and Acanthocnemus nigricans . ( Memento from August 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ^ Stefan Schütz, Bernhard Weissbecker, Hans E. Hummel, Karl-Heinz Apel, Helmut Schmitz, Horst Bleckmann (1999): Insect antenna as a smoke detector. Nature 398: 298-299. doi : 10.1038 / 18585
  11. ^ WG Evans: Perception of infrared radiation from forest fires by Melanophila acuminata de Geer (Buprestidae, Coleoptera). Ecology 47: 1061-1065 (1966).
  12. cf. also WG Evans: Infrared radiation sensors of Melanophila acuminata (Coleoptera: Buprestidae): A thermopneumatic model. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 98 (2005): 738-746
  13. ^ H. Schmitz & H. Bleckmann: The photomechanic infrared receptor for the detection of forest fires in the beetle Melanophila acuminata (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). Journal of comparative physiology A: Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology 182 (1998): 647-657
  14. ^ WG Evans & JE Kuster (1998): The infrared receptive fields of Melanophila acuminata (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). The Canadian Entomologist, Volume 112, Issue 2: 211-216
  15. http://www.3sat.de : Beetle as a model
  16. Helmut Schmitz, Volkmar Norkus, Norbert Hess, Herbert Bousack: The infrared sensilla in the beetle Melanophila acuminata as model for new infrared sensors doi : 10.1117 / 12.821434
  17. M. Müller, M. Olek, M. Giersig & H. Schmitz: Micromechanical properties of consecutive layers in specialized insect cuticle: the gula of Pachnoda marginata (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) and the infrared sensilla of Melanophila acuminata (Coleoptera, Buprestidae). J. exp. biol. 211 (2008): 2576-2583
  18. R.Geiser: Red List of Beetles. In: Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (publisher): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany. Series of publications for landscape management and nature conservation, issue 55.Bonn-Bad Godesberg 1998.

literature

  • KW Harde: Family Buprestidae. In: H. Freude, KW Harde, GA Lohse: Die Käfer Mitteleuropas . Volume 6. Goecke & Evers Verlag, Krefeld. 1979. ISBN 3-87263-027-X .
  • Donald E. Bright: The metallic wood-boring beetles of Canada and Alaska: Coleoptera: Buprestidae (The Insects and arachnids of Canada) Biosystematics Research Center, Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, 1987