Don’t expect much substantive today, as I may take a birthday break and actually have some fun.
Remember to send in your wildlife photographs (landscapes count, too)! They’re slowly accumulating, so the tank has risen about my comfort level. Today we’re featuring Jacques Hausser’s photographs of cerambycid (“longhorn”) beetles. They show the variety of this family, which, with over 26,000 described species, is huge. But not all cerambycids have long antennae, though today’s do. In the last panel below, Jacque shows his talent in natural-history drawing. His notes are indented:
Aromia moschata, the musk beetle, a splendid and large (up to 34 mm) species. The larvae live in willow wood, and the species is therefore more easy to find in wet areas – here on Angelica, a plant very attractive for nectar feeders. The odiferous name of this beetle reflects the rather nice smell it emits when caught.
Rutpela maculata, the spotted longhorn. A very common and open-minded species: the larvae feed on dead wood of almost every tree, and the adults visit every flower, with a preference for Apiaceae (Umbelliferae).
Love on a wild carrot: Stenopterus rufus, another polyphagous and rather bizarre species. I would be glad if somebody has a good evolutionary hypothesis for the reduced elytra and the puffy femora. The small beetles around it are probably Anthrenus verbasci [the varied carpet beetle], a Dermestid.
Stenocorus meridianus. This species lays eggs in the soil, and the larvae feed on the roots of cut deciduous trees, young and tiny ones starting on between bark and wood of thin roots (hence the name: Stenocorus means “narrow place”) and progressing toward the stump when growing, finally boring their tunnel to freedom.
Stictoleptura rubra, the Red-brown longhorn beetle. A sturdy species growing in rotten coniferous wood. This one is a female; the male has a black pronotum.
Stenurella melanura mating on Knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa).
I didn’t do any insect photography before the digital era – but I did like to draw them occasionally. PCC(E) allowing, here is a composite scan of drawings of four additional Cerambycid species (not to scale). Clockwise from top left: Agapantia violacea, Saperda scalaris, Leptura bifasciata and Pachyta quadrimaculata.
Wow. And those drawings are great!
A very nice series of pictures! It is interesting for me to see how this or that species on your side of the pond sort of resembles, or very much resembles, a particular species over here.
I do not know why some beetles might go for any degree of reduction of their elytra, except maybe the hand-waving adaptationist speculation that some lineages acquired mutations that allowed the trait, and found it more economical to fix that in their populations. As for poofy femurs? Ya got me.
Yes, Beringia…
The first time I visited the U.S., I was impressed by the American crow: an almost prefect copy of our carrion crow. Except for the voice: the American one is very high pitched comparing to the European one – like, say, a soprano wersus a contralto (I hasten to add that I’m refering to the pitch only, not to the musical quality !).
very impressive—and those drawings are really incredible!
Great pics, and I’m really impressed by your drawings!
I find it interesting that a species has adapted to prefer tree stumps. What did it do before trees were cut down? How does it find them? How does it manage in managed forests? Etc.
I suppose it is attracted by the roots of uncut dead trees as well – but these are rare in most European forests. As it is usually very expansive and unprofitable to extract stumps and roots, they are left in place. Thus forestry did actually extend the biotope of this species.
Trees sometime break and fall over at the trunk Also, the European Beaver, perhaps?
Interesting. Thanks! 🙂
Interesting beetles. And impressive drawing!!
Lovely drawings!
Thanks for the lovely beetle photos and exquisite illustrations.
I smiled at your description of the spotted longhorn as “open-minded”.
Wow! Impressive doesn’t begin to cover it!
I really love the tidbits you threw in about each species’ feeding preferences or other little details of their lives. And I appreciate your reminder that the Apiaceae are what used to be the Umbelliferae! I remember most of the “new” names (I also remember when they were new, for that matter), but this is one I often forget.
This may sound awfully far-fetched, but my first impression of the S. rufus was that it was on its way to being a hymenopteran mimic. Those reduced elytra show off the striped abdomen, and also perhaps resemble wasp wings size-wise. Going along with that train of thought, the swollen femurs could be aping pollen-carrying (though I’m probably mixing up my bees & wasps here). We do know that mimics don’t have to be perfect to confer at least some evolutionary advantage…
Those drawings are superb!
Appealing hypotheses! Thank you. And now, what remains to do is to test them… 😉
That’s a stunning array, the drawings are something else. You truly love your subjects, thanks.
Jacques
Very beautiful photos. The drawings are most impressive. I am always amazed at historical field guides where the plates were hand drawn and then colored individually. It’s a wonder they were ever finished!!! A recent field guide to The Spiders of N.A. took 3 years and all the drawings were done using a computer. Scientific illustration is becoming a lost art. Thanks for sharing these photos, although the drawings are my favorite 😄