Lined scale insect: harm to plants and humans

Longhorned beetles are the fifth largest family of Coleoptera by number of species. They are easily distinguished by their long antennae, which are 2-4 times their body size. The family includes 26 thousand species, of which 583 live in Russia. The distribution of beetles is associated with forests; they are found in places rich in wood. Most of the representatives of the group are of medium size. One of the common types of leptura is four-banded. The beetle has four yellow bands on its elytra. Adults feed on nectar, while larvae require deciduous wood.

Morphological description of the species

Leptura quadrifasciati is a beetle from the family of longhorned beetles or lumberjacks. A medium-sized insect, adults grow to 10-18 mm. The beetles are slender, with an elongated body. The head is small, round in shape, directed downwards at a slight angle. Mandibles are well developed. On the sides of the head there are compound eyes, their anterior edge with a deep curved slit. Short temples go into a narrow neck.

The eyes are large, complex, notched. Antennae are the sense organs of insects. With their help, beetles probe surrounding objects in search of food and a place to lay eggs. In a calm state, the antennae are laid along the back. The antennae consist of 11 segments, the second segment is short, the rest are elongated. The pronotum is bell-shaped, the posterior angles are sharp. The elytra are long, tapering towards the apex. The edge of the abdomen is visible from under them. The wings are completely hidden.

The pattern of the elytra is characteristic of the species, four yellow or orange wavy bands on a basic black background. It is formed by colored hairs and the chitinous cover itself. The variegated coloration helps adult lumberjacks camouflage themselves on flowers. The limbs are running and consist of 5 parts. The front pair is the shortest, the back pair is longer than the others. The legs are black, sometimes brown in females. Tibia without teeth, but with spurs on top.

Interesting fact. The pattern of the elytra is variable, the stripes can be shortened and divided into separate spots. In some cases, the drawing disappears completely.

Sexual dimorphism

The length of the antennae of the male is equal to the top of the elytra, while that of the female reaches only half. Females are noticeably larger and more massive than their partners. Their abdomen ends in an ovipositor. The mandibles of males are more developed.

Appearance of a burying beetle

Gravedigger beetle (Nicrophorus).
There is nothing terrible in the appearance of beetles of the carnivore family. These black beetles are quite large in size; their body length, depending on the species, ranges from 1 to 4 centimeters. Their wings are often decorated with orange or yellow irregular stripes.

The antennae on the head have clubs at the ends, with the help of which the beetles smell decaying flesh at a distance of several hundred meters.

Lifestyle

The beetle flight is observed in May-June and lasts until the end of August. Longhorned beetles are active and mobile insects. They can be found in good weather in a forest clearing or mixed-grass meadow. Adults feed on flowers, preferring umbelliferous ones. They fly actively in hot sunny weather. Longhorned beetles feed on pollen on hogweed, elecampane, hawthorn, spirea, thistle, rubus, and thistle. Additional nutrition is a must before mating. The fertilized female lays eggs in groups in crevices in tree bark.

Development of offspring

The larvae of Leptura fourstripes have a structure characteristic of the offspring of woodcutter beetles. They have a fleshy white body with a black head and brown chest plate. The prothorax is greatly enlarged, the head is almost buried in it. Simple ocelli are located near the short 3-segmented antennae. The abdomen consists of 9 segments, 6 of them have callous growths for movement along the passages. This is a distinctive feature of the species; the larvae of other longhorned beetles have convexities on 7 segments. There are no legs. The abdomen has 9 pairs of spiracles, one on each segment.

Larvae develop in groups in old rotting wood. Up to 10 inhabitants are found in one birch trunk. They settle in the lower part of trunks, stumps, felled branches with a diameter of at least 15 cm. The offspring live in wet and dry wood, but the second option is preferable to speed up pupation. The pupa is free, parts of its body are clearly distinguishable. The food supply for the larvae is provided by many trees: alder, oak, poplar, willow, elderberry, aspen and birch. Development continues for 2-3 years. Natural enemies of leptura larvae are birds. Woodpeckers and other insectivorous species are aware of the presence of larvae in rotten trunks. They easily get prey from under the bark.

Information. The parasitic species of the braconid family Henson ruspator parasitizes leptura larvae.

Incredible care for offspring

After laying eggs, the male and female leave the nest for two weeks. But then they return there again to meet a new generation. This kind of care for one’s children is extremely interesting for researchers, since this is something you rarely see in the world of insects.

What is true is that young parents are not as humane as it might seem at first glance. After all, they mercilessly destroy all larvae that were born weak or underdeveloped. Only healthy individuals have the right to go to the big feast, where they are accompanied by adult gravedigger beetles.

At the same time, the parents themselves also participate in eating the corpse. And this is most striking, since it proves the fact that before this the beetles denied themselves food only because they cared about their children. After the meal, the larvae burrow deep into the ground, after which they turn into pupae. And after two weeks, a new generation of burying beetles emerges from them, and the entire life cycle is repeated in a new circle.

Structural features of beetles

The red beetle with black dots on its wings (shown in the photo below), like all other varieties of beetles, has its own structural features. The main distinguishing feature of beetles is their strong and rigid fore wings (or elytra), which when folded form a chitinous shell that protects the thinner second pair of wings - membranous.

There are so many creatures in the world who want to dine on bugs that others had to acquire such hard chitinous armor to protect their bodies. Like all insects, beetles have a head, thorax (abdomen) and thorax. Their jaws (three pairs in total) are extremely powerful and durable. Most beetles have good eyesight, but they rely mainly on their sensory organs of touch, the antennae located on the sides of their heads.

The heart is located inside the abdomen, and it is protected by a strong chest plate (pronotum). The abdomen also contains the intestinal tract, stomach and the entire respiratory system.

Many beetles have two pairs of wings, of which the lower ones are used for flight, hidden in a sitting position under the chitinous elytra. Before taking off, the beetle raises its elytra, and only then spreads its delicate, thin wings.

In total, like other insects, the beetle has 6 legs attached to the thoracic region of the body.

What does the Italian bug look like - graphosoma lineatum

The striped shield bug or Italian bug belongs to the class insects, order Hemiptera, family true shield bugs, genus Grasophoma, order bedbugs.

The Italian (italicum) bug has a flattened, rectangular, rounded body, a pair of antennae, and six legs, characteristic of all stink bugs. The head is hidden under the shell. This insect is remembered by everyone for its beautiful chitinous cover with a black, striped, longitudinal pattern on a red or bright orange background. Its shell serves as a shield to protect the soft parts of its body from birds. The abdomen is also painted with black dots. The length of an adult reaches up to 11 mm.

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The name of the striped shield in everyday life is due to the similarity of the color of its shell with the uniform of the Italian guards guarding the Pope in the Vatican.

This has nothing to do with the geographical origin of this insect - just an associative perception.

Also, because of its appearance, it is popularly called the “tiger” bug. The line bug has a pair of wings, but flies little, and in this way it is similar to the tree stink bug. The peculiarity of this species is its coloniality. Having chosen a place, they become a bright spot against the general background.

Red, a bright color in the natural world, means that the insect is poisonous and thereby repels possible enemies - birds and other larger insects. And the unpleasant odor produced by the glands, characteristic of all shield insects, enhances this protective effect.

The oral apparatus is of a sucking type, has a proboscis with which it bites through the plant and sucks out its juice.

Adults survive the winter under the cover of fallen leaves, in tree bark, stumps, and moss. They breed in the spring and the number of offspring per season depends on the temperature. One female in temperate climatic conditions produces a clutch of 200 eggs once per season; in hot weather conditions up to three generations can be hatched per season.

How dangerous is the Italian bedbug?

This type of insect is harmless and harmless to humans. It parasitizes cultivated plants. If you meet him in the house, you don’t have to worry about the fact that he laid eggs somewhere and the larvae will soon appear. All you have to do is throw it outside and the problem will be solved.

Benefits and harms of the Italian stink bug

The striped shieldfish has a mixed type of diet. It only consumes the juice of umbrella plants and does not pose any threat to the garden plot or garden. It also feeds on smaller insects and their eggs.

During the flowering period of dill, carrots, and parsley, it can move onto them, but will not cause damage to the crop, since it is not a parasitic species on agricultural plants. It reproduces quickly (up to three generations per season) only in hot climates. In temperate climates, only one small generation is hatched. It is not classified as a dangerous pest.

Its benefit lies in the fact that the umbelliferous plants on which it feeds include many weeds - buten, gooseberry, hogweed. Weeds damaged by stink bug feeding stop developing and die. Unlike the green pest, the garden bug that lives in raspberries, the soldier bug is a real assistant and friend of the gardener.

Where does the Italian bug live and what causes it?

The Italian shield bug is distributed in central Russia, southern Siberia, Ukraine, Central and Southern Europe, and Central Asia. This type of insect does not tolerate high heat or cold, but scientists began to notice their acclimatization after they were discovered in the Far East.

Habitat of the Italian bedbug

The starting point of habitat for this species of lineated shield bug is the forest belt. In vegetable gardens and personal plots, it can appear due to birds; if there is a forest nearby, they can be carried by the wind. They make special flights in search of agricultural plants.

How to overcome a pest

Agrotechnical measures to combat larvae

Deep, thorough cultivation of the soil using steam.
Pulling out weeds.
Deep autumn plowing.
Liming the soil.
Early sowing of spring wheat varieties.
Adding ammonia and potassium fertilizers to the soil.
Fight in all fields of crop rotation.
Soil disking, especially in fields with perennial grasses.
Sowing crops that are less damaged (flax, mustard, millet).

Chemical methods of pest destruction

Scattering of poisoned cakes and bran, in which a kilogram of sodium arsenic and a kilogram of molasses are added to 13 kg of bait.
Disinfection of arable land with paradichlorobenzene.
Treatment of seedling roots with chemicals.
Chemical treatment of seeds.
Spraying potato tubers before planting in the ground.

Chemicals used for disinfection against striped click beetle larvae:

organosphorus compounds,
neonicotinoids,
pyrethroids.

Biological means of destroying larvae

Adding preparations containing entomopathogenic nematodes to the soil during the budding phase. In other words, wireworms get neighbors they don’t like.

The larvae will die within two to three days after they are infected with nematodes. This does not harm plants or earthworms.

Nematodes live in the soil for a long time without their insect hosts. They can only be added to the soil once. They are a kind of parasitic insect pests. This method of fighting is considered the most environmentally friendly and is becoming increasingly popular in the world. More than 83 companies already produce such protective equipment.

Of course, there is a wide variety of insect species in nature. They are all beautiful and our world needs them. But we have to fight against those that encroach on human food supplies.