Beetle beauty is a useful predator. Description and way of life

Great respect for foresters is enjoyed by the beetle beetle, named so for its amazing iridescent coloration. He protects the forest from harmful insects, hunting for them on the crowns of tall trees.

Description of the beetle beauty

This is one of the most beautiful representatives of the coleopteran order. Bright broad and ribbed elytra overflow, acquiring a blue, green or golden color with a reddish tint. Head and pronotum usually dark blue. The size of this beetle varies from 20 to 30 mm. Occasionally there are also larger specimens. This beetle belongs to the category of predators, as evidenced by its powerful jaws, adapted for hunting for fairly large butterfly caterpillars.

Describing how the beetle looks beautiful, one can not help but note his amazing ability to distinguish in case of danger a secret that has a very sharp smell. Due to this feature, the beetle was called "odorous".

Habitat

The beautiful beetle can be found in many countries of Western Europe, in the mountain forests of Central Asia, in the north-west of Africa, in Turkey, Iran, Syria. In Russia, its main habitat is the western part up to the Urals.

It is found mainly in broad-leaved forests and parks, preferring to dwell on trees.

Beetle beauty - interesting facts

The main difference between this insect and ordinary large ground beetles is its ability to deftly move through trees, eating caterpillars. In addition, the beetle flies well and can travel long distances in search of food. After the main food gradually disappears by the end of the summer, the insects begin preparing for the winter, which they spend in the soil, under a layer of foliage.

With the onset of spring in beetles, a period of mating and oviposition occurs. One female can lay about 100 eggs, of which about 5-7 days the larvae come out into the world. In a single season, mating can occur repeatedly. Young individuals appear in August or early September. Adult beetle beauty is able to live up to 4 years.

Although this is a predator, nevertheless the insect is also endowed with an instrument of protection. When the danger appears, the beetle turns to the enemy with the back of the body, throwing a stream of poisonous and very odorous liquid in his direction. For a person, there is no serious danger, but it can cause itching and irritation of the skin or mucous membrane.

Powerful beetle beetle

The favorite food for this insect are caterpillars, which for the most part live in the crowns of trees. Beetle beauty searches for its victim through vision, and not by smell, unlike other ground beetles. He pursues her, deftly running along the trunk of the tree, and then, grabbing, pulls to the ground, where he kills and proceeds to a meal. Previously, the beetle, filling the body of the caterpillar with its saliva, turns it into a liquid slurry for a more convenient absorption. Helping him in this and powerful jaws, which are clearly visible in the photo of the beetle beauty, placed in this article.

Caterpillars and pupae of the most diverse butterflies go to the food, including such serious pests of the forest as the nun, the unpaired silkworm, and the hohlatka. This predator has teeth and very hairy caterpillars, which even insectivorous birds do not eat . It is not for nothing that he is called an ally of foresters and a winner of a silkworm. For one season beetle beauties with their family can destroy up to 6 thousand caterpillars. He also hunts butterflies on dozens of trees, killing them and gnawing at their abdomen.

In addition, the predator does not disdain and completely different food. It happens that the beetle also attacks the fledgling chicks sitting in the nest. His victim may be and any other beetle caught in the way, even if it is much larger in size.

Feeding of larvae

As long as the covers of the newborn larva do not become black and shiny, it is in its egg cradle. Then she crawls to the surface of the soil and begins to search for food. The larva is no less aggressive predator than the adult beetle beauty, a description of the ways of extracting which feed is given above.

On the head of the larvae there are the same powerful jaws, each of which is equipped with an acute tooth on the inner side. Thanks to them, the captured victim is easily kept, sucking out its contents. Usually the larva eats only a small part of its prey. They hunt almost all day and night. In search of food, the larvae cleverly crawl into the spider nests of silkworms, the caterpillars of which live in large clusters. Emptying them, they thereby bring great benefit, restraining the growth of the number of these harmful insects.

The use of the beetle beauty

This type of insect was still used in France in 1840 for the purpose of biological control of caterpillars of butterfly pests. To destroy the gypsy moth, he was later brought to America, where they were bred in special insectaria. The beetle is beautiful - the predator is no less useful than the ladybug, known to everyone, which destroys aphids. The large size of the beetle allows it to cope with the pests of the corresponding "growth". Inhabitants in large numbers in gardens and fields, these predators help people, saving them from the need to spend their energy and resources on fighting insect pests.

Limiting factors

The number of the beetle beauty has recently been sharply reduced. In some regions, it almost never occurs, and you can see it only in the photo. The beetle was beautifully introduced into the Red Book of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Tatarstan. It is also protected in all countries of Western Europe.

One of the reasons for the extinction of this species is the mass treatment of forests and forest belts with pesticides, carried out with the aim of combating the caterpillars of an unpaired silkworm. Beetle beauty is very sensitive to these poisons, which accumulate gradually in his body and lead to death. In order to preserve its population, it is necessary to prohibit chemical treatment in protected areas.