Oil Beetle Hunt

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DonSten
Posts: 84
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:50 am

Oil Beetle Hunt

Post by DonSten »

Oil Beetle Hunt:

Buglife have just launched an Oil Beetle Hunt which you can find details of at: http://www.buglife.org.uk/getinvolved/s ... eetle+Hunt

For those who may not know, Oil beetles have a rather interesting life cycle, which involves the production of huge numbers of tiny larvae called triungulins (they have three claws on each tarsus). These sit on flowers, wait for a solitary bee to come along, then clamber on board. After arrival at the bees nest the larvae change form drastically, eat bee eggs, pollen and nectar and eventually emerge the following year as adults. The larvae have been taken from various bee species including Lasioglossum albipes, L. fratellum, Halictus rubicundus, Andrena lapponica and Nomada species.

Of the eight original species there are now only four BAP species, the others are presumed to be extinct. There are very few records of Oil beetles in Cheshire, but there is a record of a dead M.proscarabeus from the Goyt valley on the Derbyshire / Cheshire border in 1991, although it was not confirmed and the specimen not retained. That species and M.violaceus have been confused in the past.

Cheers
Don

Meloe violaceus triungulins were taken from a Nomada by Nigel Jones in 2010 in Shropshire and as this is not too far away, the species could be lurking around in Cheshire.

The picture below, taken by me, shows the 2.0 and 2.4 mm Shropshire triungulins.

Meloe triungulins
Meloe triungulins
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