Alpine barbel - the most beautiful beetle

This beetle belongs to the family of Usachi and is the only representative of the genus Rosalia throughout Europe. This species is relict, it came to our time from the distant past, having survived several geological epochs. Alpine barbel is a very large and amazingly beautiful beetle. It is described in detail in the article.

Appearance

This beetle looks very impressive. It has large dimensions: in length from 15 to 40 mm, the body itself is black, but covered with blue, blue or gray-blue hair covering, which looks very elegant. The back is marked with a black speck at the center of the upper margin, its sides have a blunt prong and a sharp tubercle on both sides of the disc. Flat elytra decorated with a variable dark pattern (there are barbels without it): in the middle a wide sash and on the spot at each edge. The beetle has very long antennae: in the male, they are twice as long as the calf, while in the female it is shorter, only two segments join the elytra; They are blue in color, with transverse strips of dense black setae.

Habitat

This handsome man is quite widespread. In Europe it can be found all over the territory, from the Alps and the Pyrenees to the southernmost border of Switzerland, as well as in Moldova, Belarus and the Ukrainian Carpathians. Scientists confirmed that Alpine barbel lives in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, in the north of Iran, in some countries of Transcaucasia. In Russia, its habitat range covers the Voronezh, Rostov, Samara, Chelyabinsk, Belgorod regions, Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, as well as Bashkortostan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, the Kabardino-Balkar Republic and Crimea.

Alpine barbel prefers broad-leaved and mixed forests, in which grow beech, elm and hornbeam plants. In the mountains, it settles at an altitude of 1500 meters above sea level.

Lifestyle

Adult barbel leaves after wintering from the wood around mid-June. Fly to September, then begin to look for a secluded place, and in October they again go under the bark for the next winter.

They feed on wood juice, gnawing openings in the trunks of beeches, elms, poplars, maples, hornbeams, chestnuts, nuts, pears, willows, lindens, hawthorn and other hardwoods. Old trees are chosen for life, often with rotting or damaged fire, frost, mushrooms, wood. Prefer open, well-lit areas, which are warmed from all sides by the sun. In cloudy weather, they hide, and in clear weather they actively run through trees and fly. By the way, these handsome men are excellent flyers and fighters: if someone attacks them, they are very actively beaten by their powerful jaws.

Mustache is a large beetle with bright and bright colors. But nevertheless it does not prevent him from perfectly camouflaging himself. In nature, it is difficult to notice this insect when it quietly sits on a beech, merging with a gray bark. Also, black spots on the body help him to "dissolve" amid the glare of the light and the shadows.

Alpine barbel is a loner, but sometimes these beetles gather in large swarms. Scientists can not yet answer the question, when exactly this happens and why they need it.

Reproduction

After mating, the female lays eggs in cracks and cracks on the trunks of old trees at a height of three to six meters. Larvae appear about two weeks later, if favorable weather conditions favor this. If the summer is rainy and overcast, then the larvae can hatch and in a month. They are large (up to 40 mm in length and 8 mm in width), fleshy, white with orange markings on the pronotum. After the birth of the light immediately "screwed" deep into the trunk. There she gnaws herself a "cradle", where she turns into a doll.

From a pupa to an adult, the transformation occurs only in the third or fourth year, when the young beetle is selected from the tree outward. This is how the alpine barbel breeds, or the alpine lumberjack.

Security

Despite the wide distribution area, the alpine barbel is on the verge of extinction. The red book of many countries, including Russia, contains a record that this beetle, as a rare relict species, is protected by the state. On the verge of extinction, he was in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Germany and Poland. Its number in recent decades has dramatically decreased in Belarus, Azerbaijan and Armenia, in Ukraine. It is almost impossible to meet this beautiful bright beetle in Moravia and the Balkans.

The reason for this is very simple: massive and uncontrolled deforestation, especially deciduous and mixed, as well as irresponsible bug catching, since Alpine barbel is a welcome exhibit for collectors who pay for it several hundred euros.

The international community is also taking measures to preserve the bright and amazing beetle in nature - it is listed in the European Red List, as well as in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, is protected in many reserves.

Interesting Facts

Alpine barbel became a symbol of the national park "Danube-Ipoli" in Hungary.

The beetle cleans its elytra with hind limbs, while making a loud chirping sound, as if it tickled him.

In the mating season, the beetles gently chirp with the ladies and publish aggressive sounds towards the rivals.

Above, it is described how the alpine barbel (Rosalia alpina) looks traditionally. But sometimes in nature there are beetles of other colors: pure black without a blue cover or pink. Probably, the Swedish researcher Carl Linnaeus, who first described it, met a pink barbel, therefore he called the view "Rosalia alpine".

Now you know what the alpine barbel is, how it looks, where it lives and reproduces.