Walker (beetle)
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Walker ( Polyphylla fullo ) |
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| Polyphylla fullo | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The Walker or Turkish beetle ( Polyphylla fullo ) is a beetle from the family of scarab beetles (Scarabaeidae). It is the only species of its genus in Central Europe.
features
The beetles reach a body length of 25 to 36 millimeters. Their body is colored black-brown and has a characteristic white spot pattern. The spots on the upper side of the body are scales, those on the stomach side are close-fitting hairs. The males can be recognized by their typically shaped antennae , whose fan consists of seven strongly curved leaves that are several times longer than the remaining antennae . The females have antennae with only five leaves, which are, however, significantly shorter than in the male. The splints ( tibia ) of the forelegs have two spines on the outside of the males and three spikes of the females.
Distribution area and habitat
The walker is found in North Africa and Europe . It occurs most in central and southern Europe, but is rare almost everywhere. Its northern distribution limit is the south of Sweden , the eastern the Balkans and the Caucasus .
It inhabits sandy habitats, such as the edge of sunny pine forests, vineyards or dunes.
Way of life
The adults appear in June and July and fly between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. in the evening. They feed on pine needles, but do not cause any economic damage. In Germany, the species is designated as particularly protected by the Federal Species Protection Ordinance. The animals can generate audible noises for humans through stridulation . The females lay their eggs in the ground. The larvae develop in the soil and feed on roots. They take three to four years to develop and can reach a length of up to 80 millimeters.
Etymology and other names
The German name Walker is documented for this beetle as early as the 18th century and refers to the noise that the beetle can produce through stridulation (friction) between an edge of the penultimate abdomen segment and a ridge on its hind wing, and that back then to the noise remembered when milling leather or fabrics. Hence the beetle was also called tanner .
The word walken comes from Old High German walchan , kneading, from Old Norse valka , dragging around.
In medieval England, too, fulling with the feet was known for making cloth . That is why the meaning of the verb to walk developed there , 'kicking with the feet' and from that more generally 'walking', 'running'.
The beetle was also called miller because of the white-haired spots on the wing covers, which reminded of the typical appearance of a flour-dusted corn mill worker.
swell
Individual evidence
- ^ Philipp Andreas Nemnich : General Polyglot Lexicon of Natural History with explanatory notes . 1795. p. 1236
- ↑ a b c Brothers Grimm : German dictionary . WALKER , Vol. 27, Col. 1255f.
- ↑ Heinrich Kemper: The animal pests in language use. Among employees by Waltraut Kemper. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959. p. 230
literature
- Karl Wilhelm Harde, Frantisek Severa and Edwin Möhn: The Kosmos Käferführer: The Central European Beetles. Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co KG, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-06959-1 .
- Jiri Zahradnik, Irmgard Jung, Dieter Jung et al .: Beetles of Central and Northwestern Europe. Parey, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-490-27118-1 .
Web links
- [1] for images, audio (the chirping when threatened) and description (Dutch)
- Fauna Europaea: Taxonomy (English)