02.05.2020
Description of the common garden beetle: what does the insect eat. Ground beetles granivorous On the taste preferences of ground beetles
On garden plot often have to deal with various insects. Most of them harm plants, as well as fruits, destroying future crops. However, among them there are species that are useful for the garden, protecting it from pests. These representatives include the common ground beetle. There are many varieties of it, each with its own characteristics and taste preferences.
Description of the ground beetle
These insects are members of a large family, including a large number of genera and species, in total more than 25 thousand. The common ground beetle belongs to the order Coleoptera. It is also called forest. Among themselves, they differ in size, color, body shape and other features.
In our conditions, the most common ground beetle, or common. It is a large insect with a body length of 1.7-3 cm or more. Its color is light graphite with a metallic sheen. The body and flaps of the beetle have small thin dents of golden color and oblong grooves. He has well-developed strong paws, so the bug quickly and deftly moves in the right direction. They have serrations to help clean the antennae. Distinctive feature- powerful and strong jaw, as it is a predator.
The whiskers covered with bristles are clearly visible, have a bizarre shape in the garden beetle. Description of the wings, their size will depend on the habitat. The more food the beetle eats, the smaller the wings. They become smaller due to infrequent flights in search of food. The elytra almost completely cover the abdomen of the insect. They almost do not fly, but they move remarkably with the help of strong paws.
Beetle lifestyle
Ground beetles inhabit almost the entire planet. They are found in the upper layers of the soil and on it, sometimes crawling into trees. These insects feel quite comfortable in the most different conditions. For them, any area is suitable for habitation, where there is life.
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Very important role for their habitat is played by air temperature and soil moisture. Under favorable conditions, ground beetles live up to 5 years, therefore they are considered long-livers. Since they are predators, they are distinguished by the ability to move quickly. If it is found during daylight hours, it immediately freezes, but after a few seconds it quickly burrows into a layer of soil or leaves. When defending from enemies, it releases a jet of liquid with an unpleasant odor.
They tolerate winter well and are not afraid of cold and frost. They hide in the foundations of buildings, under sheds or storage areas, waiting for heat. Ground beetles live in small groups of different representatives of other beetles.
Nutrition and reproduction
These bugs are active predators and hunt at night. To understand the benefits of this insect, you need to find out what the ground beetle eats. During the day, she hides in different shelters:
- stones;
- fallen leaves;
- heaps of rotten grass;
- tree bark.
With the onset of darkness, the beetles begin to hunt, eating pupae, caterpillars and larvae. They also eat adults, which are pests of horticultural crops. And they also feed on slugs, earthworms, flies and snails. When they detect prey, they immediately grab it with their strong and well-developed jaws. Then a stream of liquid is released into it, which dissolves in the tissues of the victim. It turns into a semi-liquid mass, after which the ground beetle eats it.
Female garden beetles are capable of laying 50–80 eggs at a time. To do this, they choose a fairly wet and fertile area in top layer soil. After a while, larvae appear and, after 3-4 weeks, they turn into pupae. However, there are species in which the process of turning into pupae takes up to 2 years. After a while, they become adults.
During their life they breed 2-3 times. Ground beetle larvae are more voracious creatures than adult beetles, therefore they develop very quickly and become young beetles by autumn.
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The appearance of insects in the garden
Most gardeners and gardeners, when they see ground beetles in their garden, do not even suspect that they are beneficial. Very often, when they see beetles, they immediately destroy them. Among many species, there is only one most harmful representative - the grain ground beetle. She is really capable of inflicting great harm agricultural plants. It is also called the humpback peun. It is very similar to the garden one, but the pest has shorter legs and a dark, almost black color.
These insects are capable of destroying cereal crops. They eat ears of corn when they are filled with grain. After that, the plants look ground. The larvae destroy the roots and seeds that germinate in the soil. When there are too many pests, they are able to destroy large areas sowing. On suburban area they appear if cereals grow there. In this case, the owners should take a number of measures:
- do not plant cereals for 2 years in a row, replace them with other crops;
- treat the seeds with pesticides before sowing;
- during the formation of ears, special chemicals should be used for processing.
Unlike the grain beetle, the garden beetle cannot be destroyed. It is best to try to increase its numbers, as it protects gardens and orchards from pests.
There are hairy ground beetles that destroy Colorado beetles, bringing benefits. However, during the ripening of strawberries in the garden, it begins to eat up and spoils the harvest of berries.
The benefits of ground beetles for plants
Common garden beetles eat various pests in the garden, helping to preserve plants and the future harvest of many crops. They feed on garden insects:
- caterpillars;
- snails;
- slugs.
It is these insects that most often destroy garden and garden crops. With the help of ground beetles, you can get rid of pests without the use of various chemicals. They do no harm environment, because they are a simple environmentally friendly way to fight. Plants will be beautiful and do not need additional funds protection from harmful insects if there are a large number of garden beetles. Beetles will save planting crops, destroying voracious caterpillars and other harmful insects.
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The ground beetle eats not only adults, it also feeds on sexually mature pests. It does not allow them to multiply rapidly. According to statistics, on average, one beetle destroys 150–300 adult caterpillars, as well as their larvae and pupae, per season. They are orderlies for gardens and orchards.
For this reason, it is desirable to increase their population in the garden. Insects need hiding places where they can live. These are pieces of bark, heaps of leaves, sawdust or small stones. There bugs-orderlies will be able to protect themselves from the attack of enemies. The beetles themselves are tasty prey for moles, birds of prey, lizards, shrews.
Seeing a ground beetle in your garden, do not destroy it. If possible, you should try to use fewer chemicals to kill pests if ground beetles live on the site. By maintaining and increasing the natural population of these garden beetles, you can protect your garden from various harmful insects.
Description. Beetle 6-8 mm long. Internal main impressions of pronotum weakly punctate. Elytral striae not deepened towards apex, their seventh interval near apex with three punctures. Shortened scutellum of elytra without setiform pore. Legs are yellow. In other respects, it is similar to seed dander.
Larva up to 11 mm long, campodeoid. Head and pronotum brownish, other segments light grey. Second antennal segment slightly longer than fourth, first segment less than 2.5 times as long as thick, with 6 teeth, gap between median teeth narrower than one tooth wide. Distinct suture not changed, slightly shorter than fourth antennal segment.
Lifestyle. According to the nature of distribution over biotopes and daily activity, it is similar to seed dwarf. Beetles hibernate. Their exit from wintering places begins at an average daily air temperature above 5 ° (from the beginning of March in the Steppe and from the beginning of April in the Forest-steppe). In the conditions of the Forest-Steppe, beetles are most often encountered (at the time of emergence from pupae) in May and September.
Beetles and panthophage larvae. In addition to the plants mentioned above, more than 10 species of invertebrates, including pea aphid, sorrel leaf beetle, and gray bud weevil, were noted in the composition of their food. In damaged plants, they eat generative organs, germinating and ripening seeds, berries (for strawberries) and young shoots (for lettuce, potatoes).
Of the predators of this species, more than 30 species of invertebrates (spiders, ground beetles) and vertebrates (viviparous lizard, birds from the families of falcons, pheasants, plovers, owls, larks, ravens, thrushes, warblers, wagtails, shrikes, starlings, oats, weavers) , finches, and from mammals - European hedgehog).
Flattened Glowlight - Amara spreta Dej. European part Russia, Siberia; in Ukraine, mainly in the forest-steppe. Europe, Western and Eastern Mediterranean, Northern China. Panthophage. Beetles sometimes eat the pulp of russula and other edible mushrooms, germinating seeds of mustard, hornbeam and some wild herbs (sedges, etc.).
Dark-whiskered Glowlight - Amara famelica Zimm. European part of Russia, Siberia; in Ukraine, most often in Polissya and Forest-steppe. Europe. Panthophage. Beetles sometimes damage spikelets of wheat and some wild cereals.
Forest Glowlight - Amara communis panz. European part of Russia, Siberia, middle Asia; ubiquitous in Ukraine, but sporadically in the Steppe. Europe, Western and Eastern Mediterranean. Panthophage. Beetles sometimes eat germinating seeds of wheat, flax, the pulp of russula and other edible mushrooms.
Glowlight convex - Amara convexior Steph. The European part of Russia, Ukraine (in the forests from Transcarpathia to the Dnieper and in the mountainous Crimea). Europe, Western and Eastern Mediterranean. Panthophage. Beetles sometimes eat germinating hornbeam and maple seeds.
Floodplain Glowlight - Amara municipalis Dej. European part of Russia, Siberia; everywhere in Ukraine. Europe. Panthophage. Sporadically damages the generative organs of grain (wheat, rye) and industrial (mint) crops; nutrition was noted on 7 types of wild-growing herbs (cereals, labiales, Asteraceae).
Glowlight narrow - Amara bifrons Gyll. European part of Russia, Siberia, Central Asia; everywhere in Ukraine. Europe, Western and Eastern Mediterranean. Harmfulness was noted in the forest-steppe and subzone of the northern steppes.
Damages cereals (wheat, rye, corn), industrial (mustard, thyme), garden (onion, sorrel), medicinal (yarrow, plantain, St. John's wort, chamomile) crops, carrion in gardens; Feeding of more than 20 species of wild herbs (cereals, buckwheat, haze, cruciferous, euphorbia, madder, Compositae) was noted.
Description. Beetle 5.5-7.5 mm, narrow, reddish-brown, upper abdomen with a metallic sheen. Antennae uniformly rufous, frons near eyes with two bristle-bearing pores. The pronotum is widest at its base, which is equal to the width of the base of the elytra. Posterior folds of pronotum obtuse, basal pits, and often most of base, deeply punctured. The scutellum of the elytra is distinct. Legs uniformly brown.
Larva up to 8 mm long, head brownish, thoracic and abdominal tergites greyish-yellow. First antennal segment more than twice as long as wide; parietal suture almost absent. Epipleuron with 5 setae, cerci 3 times as long as ninth abdominal segment.
Lifestyle. The nature of distribution over biotopes and daily activity is similar to seed dwarf. Under the conditions of arable land, this species has two mutually overlapping generations. In one of them, beetles hibernate, the exit of which from wintering places in conditions steppe zone begins at an average daily air temperature above 10° (end of April). Overwintered females that emerged from pupae in autumn lay eggs from the beginning of June (Forest-Steppe) or from the beginning of May (Steppe). The development of larvae lasts until the end of summer, interrupted by diapause. In another generation, larvae overwinter, completing their development at the end of spring. The emergence of beetles from pupae is noted from early June to early July (Forest-Steppe) and from early April to late May (Steppe). The development of gonads is delayed by summer diapause, females with eggs are found in September - October.
Beetles and panthophage larvae. In addition to the plants mentioned above, their food includes more than 10 species of invertebrates (low-bristle worms, soil-dwelling larvae of Coleoptera and Diptera). In damaged plants, they eat mainly seedlings, less often flowers and ripening seeds.
About 10 species of animals (tarantulas, ground beetles, sparrows, badgers) were noted among the predatory enemies of this species.
Fathead tarantula - Amara ingenua Duft. European part of Russia, Siberia, Central Asia; everywhere in Ukraine. Europe, Western and Eastern Mediterranean. Panthophage. It sporadically damages germinating seeds of cereals (wheat, corn), industrial (kenaf, hemp), garden (carrots, lettuce) crops, the pulp of strawberries, in orchards - carrion and generative organs of some wild cereals.
Red Glowlight - Amara fulfa Deg. European part of Russia, Siberia; everywhere in Ukraine. Europe, Eastern Mediterranean. Panthophage. Beetles sometimes damage germinating seeds of cereals (wheat, barley, corn), industrial (lei, mustard) and garden (onion, lettuce) crops, young shoots of potatoes, maple seedlings, and generative organs of wild grasses (cereals, sedge, etc.).
Pitch-brown Glowlight - Amara consularis Duft. European part of Russia, Siberia to the Yenisei, Central Asia; everywhere in Ukraine. Europe. Panthophage, beetles sometimes damage germinating seeds of cereals (wheat, rye, barley, corn), industrial (beet, mustard), fodder (sorghum, clover) crops, maple, hornbeam, strawberries, carrion in gardens.
Ginger bitter - Amara apricaria payk. European part of Russia, Siberia, Central Asia; everywhere in Ukraine. Harmfulness was noted mainly in the Steppe. Europe, Western and Eastern Mediterranean, Central Asia.
Damages cereals (wheat, rye, corn, barley, oats, millet, buckwheat), legumes (peas, beans), technical (beets, sunflowers, peanuts, mustard, flax, hemp, thyme), garden (onions, carrots, sorrel) , medicinal (jaundice, St. John's wort, sage), fodder (vetch, clover) crops, strawberries, maple, ash, carrion in gardens; nutrition was noted on 10 species of wild-growing herbs (cereals, hazeweed, Compositae).
Description. The beetle is 6-8.5 mm long, the upper abdomen is pitch-brown, often with a slight bronze sheen, the lower abdomen and legs are rusty red. Pronotum roughly but not densely punctate at base, its lateral margins distinctly notched in front of posterior corners.
Larva up to 11 mm. Head strongly transverse, second antennal segment with one seta. Clypeus with six small closely set denticles. The occipital groove and epicranial suture are absent. Longitudinal ocellar groove with one long and two short fuzzy setae. Abdominal tergites pale yellow and bearing only two pairs of large setae along posterior margin. Sternite of ninth abdominal segment with 1 pair of setae in middle.
Lifestyle. By the nature of distribution in biotopes, it is similar to the seed tarragon, but in the Steppe it is more common in open watershed areas, especially on arable lands.
Beetles and larvae hibernate. In Steni, the beetles leave their wintering grounds at an average daily air temperature of 3-5°C and lead an active lifestyle from early March to mid-October. In the forest-steppe, they are found from late March to early October. The emergence of beetles from pupae formed from overwintered larvae occurs from mid-June to the end of July.
Beetles and panthophage larvae. In addition to the above plants, more than 20 species of invertebrates were noted in their food, including such pests as sand and corn lingering, Colorado potato beetle, beet and gray kidney weevils. In plants, germinating seeds, flowering parts, ripening grains are damaged, less often (in strawberries) fruit pulp.
Of the enemies-predators of this species, 12 species of invertebrates (centipedes, spiders, ground beetles) and 11 species of vertebrates (viviparous lizard, birds from the families of plovers, owls, sea urchins, ravens, starlings, weavers) were noted.
Glowlight flat - Amara crenata Dej. In Russia, the middle zone and the south of the European part, the Caucasus; in Ukraine, mainly in the Steppe and Crimea. middle lane Europe, Western and partly Eastern (Balkans) Mediterranean. Panthophage. Beetles sometimes eat germinating seeds and generative organs of cereals (wheat, millet, barley) and medicinal (St. John's wort) crops, as well as some wild herbs (cereals, Compositae).
Notched tarantula - Amara aulica panz. European part of Russia. In Ukraine everywhere, Western Siberia, Central Asia. Europe, introduced to North America. Panthophage. It sporadically damages germinating seeds, less often flowers of cereals (wheat, corn, rice), legumes (peas), technical (cotton) and forage (clover, alfalfa) crops, seedlings of maple, hornbeam and some types of wild grasses (composites).
Humpbacked Glowlight - Amara convexiuscula March. European part of Russia, Siberia to Transbaikalia; in Ukraine everywhere, except for the mountainous regions of the Carpathians and Crimea. Europe, Western and partly Eastern Mediterranean. Panthophage. Marked as a pest of cereals (wheat, rye, rice), industrial (beet, mustard, fennel), medicinal (plantain, steelwort) and fodder (clover) crops, germinating seeds of hornbeam and flowers of 7 species of wild herbs (cereals, haze).
Small grain ground beetle - Zabrus tenebrioides Goeze. Middle and southern stripes of the European part of Russia, south Western Siberia, Middle Asia; in Ukraine everywhere, but more often in the Steppe. Central Europe, Western and Eastern Mediterranean. The range within Ukraine is divided into three zones: increased harm - Odessa, Nikolaev, Kherson and the plains of the Crimean region; unstable harm - central and southern districts of Kirovograd, Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye regions, as well as Chernivtsi and Zakarpattia regions; minor harm - forest-steppe zone to the southern border of Polissya.
Damages cereals (wheat, rye, corn, millet, oats, rice, sorghum, buckwheat), industrial (sunflower, fennel), garden (salag), fodder (sudanese, timothy grass, ryegrass, fescue, cocksfoot, wheatgrass) crops and about 10 types of wild-growing cereals. It causes the greatest harm to winter wheat.
Description. Beetle 12-16 mm, pitch black, hairless above. Antennae, palps, tarsi, and in young beetles and abdomen are reddish to tar-brown. The head is large, the forehead is at the inner edge, the eyes have one bristle-bearing pore. Antennae short, pubescent from fourth segment.
Larva up to 28 mm. The body is elongated, slender. The head and first segment of the thorax are dark brown or pitch brown, the rest of the body is grayish green to cream or white. The head is transverse, with a longitudinal row of setae (4-5) in its lower part on each side. Mandibles massive, twice as long as wide at base, their inner margin with large tooth, and outer margin with two setae.
The pupa is white, with well-defined legs, mouthparts and wings. She lies in a cradle in an inclined position, head up. Before the beetle emerges, the mouthparts and limbs of the pupa darken.
Eggs are milky white, oval, 2-2.5 mm in size.
Lifestyle. In the distribution over natural and cultivated biotopes, this species clearly shows a zonal change of stations in the longitudinal (from west to east) and latitudinal (from north to south) directions. In Transcarpathia and the western Forest-Steppe, beetles are found mainly in areas of meadow steppes with sparse herbage, and in arable land conditions - on crops with wide row spacing (corn, sunflower). In the left-bank Forest-Steppe and adjacent areas of the eastern Steppe, they prevail in areas with moderate grass growth and in grain crops on the southern gentle slopes of hills and ravines. To the south of the Forest-Steppe, in the subzone of fescue-feather grass steppes, the beetles are confined to areas with dense grass cover and crops with narrow row-spacings on the upland. Even further south, in the sagebrush-cereal steppes, beetles are usually found at the bottom of beams and hearths, in floodplain meadows and irrigated lands.
In cultivated biotopes, it occurs in much larger quantities (mainly on cereals) than in natural ones.
The nature of daily activity in in general terms similar to the behavior of the seed tarragon.
Mostly larvae overwinter, rarely beetles. In spring, feeding of larvae begins at an average daily air temperature of 7-8°C and lasts an average of 5-7 weeks, after which pupation occurs. In the Donetsk region, pupae are found in the II-III decades of May, in Odessa, Kherson and Nikolaev - in the I-II decades of May, in Kirovograd and Vinnitsa - from the II decade of June to the first decade of July. The development of pupae lasts from 12 to 25 days.
Beetles are very different. For example, the Carabus species of the Cechenus group have a broad, powerful head; the head is wide, because powerful muscles are attached to it, compressing the jaws. This beetle preys on gastropods hiding in an armored shell. With its jaws, the beetle gnaws at the shells - like huge seeds it peels, with a bang. And small ground beetles of the genus Dromius live on trees, under the bark. 
Among the ground beetles there are also many herbivorous forms, far from all of them are predatory - for example, there are many plant-eating species in the genus Amara. 
There are granivorous ground beetles, and even pests Agriculture(corn beetle Zabrus tenebrioides). These beetles build burrows where they store grain. Some ground beetles tolerate grain in a very funny way: they clamp the grain in their jaws, and on top of the head there is a small curved outgrowth that “grabs” the grain so that it does not slip out. 
Granivorous Ophonus feed on grains of umbrella grasses. The female digs a hole for each individual egg, where she carries seeds to provide food for the future larva. It is important to note here the delayed eating of food: between the acquisition of prey and its use, there is a stage of transporting food. It is believed that this is one of the steps towards coloniality. 
Transportation of prey occurs not only in herbivorous forms. The larva of Carabus gigas hunts at night. She runs in the dark on the surface of the forest floor until she finds a victim - a snail. The larva attacks and kills her. She then digs a hole and drags the dead snail into it. Sitting in a mink, it feeds calmly. At the same time, she places the snail in the hole in such a way that the mouth of the shell closes the entrance to the hole, and the shell itself serves as a lid, under which the larva hides in the hole. When eating, the larva does housework - it expands the mink and compacts its walls with lateral movements of the body. She eats a snail in one and a half to three days, after which she is ready to go on a new hunt.
Ground beetles of the genus Nebria (for example, the coastal ground beetle N. brevicollis), which are distinguished by a heart-shaped pronotum, live along the banks of rivers and streams and hunt springtails there - those same cryptomaxillary small creatures that we spoke about as possible ancestors of the entire class of insects. However, these ground beetles also eat insects, as well as ground beetles of the genus Bembidion that are also found near water. The brilliant Nebria nitida hides from enemies of the Nebrium by diving into the water and hiding under the lower, underwater part of the stones. 
Many genera of beetles have special devices specifically for catching springtails. The ground beetle Loricera pilicornis has sticky patches on its mouth parts, to which their small prey sticks. Notiophilus is very vigilant and is able to spot even a small springtail from a decent distance. Loricera have long hairs at the base of the antennae - a special "brush", trapping apparatus, with which they catch these springtails. Leistus has a similar trapping apparatus on the lower surface of the head. 
(Harpalus affinis)
Ground beetles are granivorous, or runners(lat. Harpalus listen)) is a genus of ground beetles from the subfamily Harpalin.
Description
The forelegs of males are widened. The pronotum is rarely median, its base slightly narrower than the base of the elytra.
Biology
Ground beetles. Everywhere except tundra and deserts.
Classification
About 400 species (10 subgenera): more than 280 species in the Palearctic, 73 in the Nearctic, 50 in the Afrotropic and Madagascar, 11 species in the Indo-Malayan region. For former USSR 166 species are indicated. belong to the subfamily Harpalinae .
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Notes
Literature
- Kryzhanovsky O. L. 1983: Genus Harpalus.// Fauna of the USSR, Coleoptera (Vol. I, issue 2). - Leningrad, "Nauka", pp. 268-269.
- Kryzhanovskij O. L. et al. 1995: A Checklist of the ground-beetles of Russia and Adjacent Lands (Coleoptera, Carabidae). Sofia: Pensoft Series Faunist. 3, 271 pp.
- Lindroth, C. H. 1961-1969. The ground beetles (Carabidae excl. Cicindelinae) of Canada and Alaska. Parts 1-6. Opuscula Entomologica xlviii + 1192 pp
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An excerpt characterizing Ground beetles granivorous
Mostly, Princess Mary did not understand the full significance of this war because the old prince never spoke about it, did not recognize it, and laughed at dinner at Desalles, who spoke about this war. The prince's tone was so calm and sure that Princess Mary, without reasoning, believed him.Throughout the month of July, the old prince was extremely active and even lively. He pawned more new garden and a new building, a building for courtyards. One thing that bothered Princess Marya was that he slept little and, having changed his habit of sleeping in the study, every day he changed the place of his lodging for the night. Either he ordered his camp bed to be made up in the gallery, or he remained on the sofa or in the Voltaire chair in the living room and dozed without undressing, while not m lle Bourienne, but the boy Petrusha read to him; then he spent the night in the dining room.
On August 1, a second letter was received from Prince Andrei. In the first letter, received shortly after his departure, Prince Andrei humbly asked for forgiveness from his father for what he allowed himself to tell him, and asked him to return his favor to him. The old prince answered this letter with an affectionate letter, and after this letter he alienated the Frenchwoman from himself. The second letter of Prince Andrei, written from near Vitebsk, after the French occupied it, consisted of short description the whole campaign with the plan drawn in the letter, and from considerations about the further course of the campaign. In this letter, Prince Andrei presented to his father the inconvenience of his position close to the theater of war, on the very line of movement of troops, and advised him to go to Moscow.
At dinner that day, in response to the words of Dessalles, who said that, as he heard, the French had already entered Vitebsk, the old prince remembered Prince Andrei's letter.
“I received it from Prince Andrei today,” he said to Princess Marya, “didn’t you read it?”
“No, mon pere, [father],” the princess answered frightened. She couldn't read letters she hadn't even heard about receiving.
“He writes about this war,” said the prince with that contemptuous smile that had become accustomed to him, with which he always spoke about a real war.
“It must be very interesting,” Desalles said. - The prince is able to know ...
– Ah, very interesting! said m lle Bourienne.
“Go and bring it to me,” the old prince turned to m lle Bourienne. - You know, on a small paperweight table.
M lle Bourienne jumped up happily.
“Oh no,” he yelled, frowning. - Come on, Mikhail Ivanovich.
Mikhail Ivanovich got up and went into the study. But as soon as he left, the old prince, looking around uneasily, threw down his napkin and went himself.
“They don’t know how to do anything, they mix everything up.
While he was walking, Princess Mary, Dessalles, m lle Bourienne and even Nikolushka looked at each other in silence. The old prince returned with a hasty step, accompanied by Mikhail Ivanovich, with a letter and a plan, which he, not allowing anyone to read during dinner, put beside him.
