Silky-haired click beetle
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Silky-haired click beetle ( Prosternon tessellatum ) |
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| Prosternon tessellatum | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
| Images of Prosternon tessellatum | |
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| Image 1: top view | Photo 2: bottom |
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| Image 3: Front strip right green | Figure 4: side view |
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| Photo 5: hairiness | |
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| Image 6: Prosternal furrow, green on the right, schematic | Photo 7: Thigh covers, highlighted in green on the right |
The silky-haired click beetle ( Prosternon tessellatum ) is a species of the genus Prosternon in the family of click beetles (Elateridae).
It resembles the common mouse-gray click beetle ( Agrypnus murinus ), but is ten to twelve millimeters in length, and has typical coarse hairs made up of gray-yellow to gold-shining, coiled scaled hairs that lie in vertebrae in all directions.
The species is classified as not endangered in the Red Lists of Rhineland-Palatinate .
Notes on the name
The species was first described by Linnaeus in 1758 under the scientific name Elater tesselatus . The short description contains the phrase: elytris fuscis: maculis pallidioribus confertis ( Latin , with dark wing-coverts with densely packed lighter spots). That is why Linnaeus chooses the species name tessulātus (Latin for diced).
The generic name Prostérnon ( old Gr . Προστέρνον prostérnon) means front breast. In older identification keys, the property that the front breast is not marginalized at the rear edge separates Prosternone from other genera.
The genus Prosternon comprises fifteen species worldwide, two of which are found in Europe
Description of the beetle
The side of the pronotum is completely rimmed, but the rim gradually descends towards the front so that it is not visible from above near the head. The front breast and the underlying parts of the sides of the pronotum gape apart near the head, but are then fused together by a seam. The seam is shiny and smooth and delimited on both sides by a fine line (double Prosternal seam, Fig. 6).
At the rear, the front breast is drawn out into a long extension that can be inserted into a pit in the mid-breast (Fig. 2, Fig. 6). This enables the beetle to jump up from the supine position, which is characteristic of the family.
The claws have some teeth at the base, but are otherwise imperforate. As with all click beetles, the hind hip, which connects to the rear of the chest, is hollowed out to partially accommodate the hind legs. The part that is on the same level as the rear chest is called the thigh ceiling (Fig. 7). In the silk-haired click beetle, it is round on the inside and slowly narrows outwards, while it is slightly curved forwards. Clear end strips (Fig. 3) are formed over the deflections of the sensors. They run diagonally forward and end before they touch. Between them, the forehead drops evenly forward. These properties distinguish the two subfamilies Ctenicerinae and Agriotinae in Central European species from other subfamilies of the click beetles.
The Ctenicerinae , to which the silky-haired click beetle belongs, differ from the Agriotinae in the orientation of the head. In the Ctenicerinae , the forehead falls flat forward, the mouthparts are directed forward (prognathic).
Within the subfamily, the genus Prosternon is characterized by the gray-yellow to golden-yellow hairs made up of strong hairs (scale hairs), which run in vertebrae in all directions on the pronotum and the wing covers and therefore have striking exposure effects (Fig. 5). The second European species Prosternon chrysocomum has a somewhat broader and more strongly curved pronotum, which reaches its greatest width before the middle and in which the spaces between the wing covers are somewhat arched.
The silk-haired click beetle is less densely hairy and the hair is less vividly colored, the stripes remain clearly visible. The pronotum is fine and very dense, the elytra extremely fine, the stripes indistinctly punctured . The eleven-link antennae are sawn from the fourth link. The animal is black-brown, the slightly protruding sides of the wing covers reddish-brown. The legs are also reddish-brown, the thighs often blackened, the splints occasionally. The wing coverts are striped, the spaces between them are slightly arched at the base.
Occurrence
The beetle is widespread in Europe , Asia, and North America . In Central Europe it is common everywhere, in the mountains it occurs up to the upper tree line. The beetle appears mainly in May and June on flowering coniferous wood, shrubs and low vegetation, but can be found from late April to early August.
Way of life
The species inhabits different habitats: coniferous forests, dry forest edges and forest meadows, but also heather, moors, dunes and gardens. The beetles can be found on blossoms, bushes, and conifers, and occasionally in moss.
The larvae live in stumps of conifers and in humus .
literature
- 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 , pp. 72 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Red lists at BioNetworkX
- ↑ C.Linnaeus: Systema Naturae per Regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata Stockholm 1758 first description page 406 no.20
- ↑ Sigmund Schenkling: Nomenclator coleopterologus 2nd edition Jena 1922 Explanation of the scientific beetle names (species) in short form
- ↑ Sigmund Schenkling: Nomenclator coleopterologus 2nd edition Jena 1922 Explanation of the scientific beetle names (genus) in short form
- ↑ Edmund Reitter : Fauna Germanica, the beetles of the German Empire III. Volume, KGLutz 'Verlag, Stuttgart 1911, p. 210
- ^ Prosternon in Fauna Europaea. Retrieved March 22, 2013
- ↑ Species of the genus Prosternon at BioLib
Web links
- Prosternon tessellatum in Fauna Europaea