Black beetle

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Black beetle
Similar dead beetle (Blaps lethifera)

Similar dead beetle ( Blaps lethifera )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Beetle (Coleoptera)
Subordination : Polyphaga
Partial order : Cucujiformia
Superfamily : Tenebrionoidea
Family : Black beetle
Scientific name
Tenebrionidae
Latreille , 1802
Corticeus unicolor
Larva of the black beetle ( Zophobas morio )

The black or dark beetles (Tenebrionidae) are a family of the beetles (Coleoptera). With around 20,000 species, they are among the largest families of beetles worldwide. In Europe there are almost 1,800 species and subspecies, in Central Europe there are only around 70 species.

features

The beetles are 1 to 50 millimeters long and are very diverse in their physique. Outwardly, many species resemble representatives from practically all other beetle families. Their body shape ranges from roundish oval to elongated and from flat to spherical. They are usually completely black, black-brown or rusty yellow to brown in color. In many species the body is structured with points. The pronotum is usually as wide as the adjacent part of the wing panels and has a rounded side. Some species have conspicuous structures on them. The wing covers are often structured, in some species they have also grown together at the wing cover seam . In these the second pair of wings has receded. Their antennae have 11 links and are predominantly thread-shaped, but there are also those that are more or less club-shaped at the end. The base (deflection) of the feeler is covered by the cheeks in the form of protruding strips. The long legs of the beetles have five tarsi in front and in the middle , and only four in the back.

A number of species have defensive glands at the end of the abdomen ( pygidial glands ) and some also on the thorax . This allows them to give off foul-smelling defense secretions that are supposed to protect against predators. Also, some sex and aggregation pheromones can secrete.

The larvae have an elongated, round in cross-section, relatively strongly chitinized body and are yellow-brown in color. They look similar to wireworms (larvae of click beetles ).

Occurrence

Black beetles occur in many different biotopes, but they prefer warm habitats. Many species occur in desert and steppe areas , where they are typical inhabitants of sandy areas. Other species live in or on mushrooms , dead wood , sludge, bark, straw, hay, leaves, bird and mammal nests and can also be found as cultural followers in the vicinity of humans in camps, apartments, cellars and stables. Some species live together in society.

Way of life

Most beetles and larvae are herbivores or omnivores . They feed primarily on rotting or rotten parts of plants, but also on seeds, mushrooms, dead insects, etc. Some species are dreaded pests on a wide variety of human supplies. The best- known example of this is the meal beetle ( Tenebrio molitor ). Many species play an ecologically important role in the breakdown of vegetable waste. Most species are crepuscular or nocturnal. During the day they can bury themselves in hot desert sand or walk quickly across the desert floor on their legs with their bodies raised far from the ground.

Systematics (selection)

Fossil evidence

The oldest known find of a black beetle comes from the lignite layers of the Geiseltal , which belong to the Middle Eocene . The representatives from at least 10 genera of this family found in Baltic amber are of about the same age . The family is also known from the younger Dominican amber .

Use by humans

Freeze-dried mealworms (right) and buffalo worms (left) as food

Some species, in particular flour beetles , glossy black grain mold beetles , and large black beetles , are bred commercially. They are mainly used in the larval stage as live food rich in protein and fat for pets , as food insects and as bait for sport fishing .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tenebrionidae. Fauna Europaea, accessed April 25, 2007 .
  2. ↑ Francesco Vitali: Systematic revision of the fossil cerambycids from Geiseltal (Coleoptera Cerambycidae). In: Entomapeiron Paleoentomology , 3 (1), 2008, pp. 1-16
  3. ↑ George O. Poinar, Jr .: Life in Amber . 350 pp., 147 figs., 10 plates, Stanford University Press, Stanford (Cal.) 1992. ISBN 0-8047-2001-0
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Weitschat and Wilfried Wichard: Atlas of plants and animals in Baltic amber , 256 p., Numerous. Fig., Pfeil-Verlag, Munich 1998. ISBN 3-931516-45-8
  5. ↑ JT Doyen & GO Poinar: Tenebrionidae from Dominican amber (Coleoptera). In: Entomologica Scandinavica , 25, pp. 27-51, Klampenborg 1994; ISSN  0013-8711 .

literature

  • Jiři Zahradnik, Irmgard Jung, Dieter Jung et al .: Beetles of Central and Northwestern Europe. Parey, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-490-27118-1

Web links

Commons : Black Beetle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files