Polyphaga

Image taken using a Stackshot rail and rendered with Helicon Focus software

Image taken with the Stackshot rail and rendered with Helicon Focus

Picture taken just before the beetle took-off

Image taken with a StackShot rail, Helicon Remote software, and stacks rendered with Helicon Focus software.

Slo.: strigo, hrastov kozliek - syn: Cerambyx longicorn - Habitat: mixed wood edge, Fagus sylvatica dominant, Picea abies, Ostrya carpinifolia, Fraxinus ornus, Corylus avellana frequent; found near woodshed of a cottage; slightly inclined mountain slope, southeast aspect, relatively dry and warm place; skeletal, calcareous ground, elevation 600 m (2.000 feet), average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Comment: The biggest bugs are often considered the worst bugs by some people. Others are capable to see beauty and incomprehensive imagination in them. Such is for me also Cerambyx cerdo. This beautiful beetle is one of the largest of the European species. It takes four years before such a beetle develops. It has very long thread-like antennae, in males significantly longer than their body. In females they are only as long as the elytra (hard wing cases). This beetle produces sounds - a chirping noise called stridulation. According to most sources this species develops only in oaks (genus Quercus), while in more southern parts of Europe it is also able to develop in the chestnuts (genus Castanea). However, Ref.3 states also other tree species as suitable. In fact there are neither oaks nor chestnuts known to me near the place where I found this male beetle and also not in the broader region of Lower Trenta valley. The Cerambyx cerdo is classified as vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List and also listed on Appendix II of the Bern Convention as a strictly protected fauna species. It is also protected according to Pravilnik o uvrstitvi ogroenih rastlinskih in ivalskih vrst v rdei seznam, Uradni list RS, t. 82/2002 (Regulation of enlisting of endangered plant and animal species onto Red List, Official Gazette of Republic Slovenia, no. 82/2002) (2002); prizadeta vrsta (E) (marked as a vulnerable species (E)). Ref.: (1) Fauna Europas, Bestimmungslexikon, George Westermann Velag, Brounschweig (1997), translated to Slovenian, Mladinaka Knjiga, Ljubljana (1981), pp xx (2) http://www.arkive.org/cerambyx-longicorn/cerambyx-cerdo/ (3) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/natura2000/management/docs/Cerambyx%20cerdo%20factsheet%20-%20SWIFI.pdf

Image taken using a StackShot rail with Helicon Remote software and rendered using Helicon Focus software.

Image taken with Stackshot rail and rendered with Helicon Focus

Plusiotis gloriosa

Image taken with Stackshot rail and rendered with Helicon Focus

Taken with Stackshot rail using Helicon Focus stacking software.

On elephant dung

adult emerging from pupal case, Coleoptera

Slo.: roga, kleman - Habitat: grassland, pasture, near mixed woods with Fagus sylvatica, Ostrya carpinifolia and Picea abies dominant trees; poorly maintained forest; locally flat terrain, colluvial, skeletal, calcareous ground; relatively warm place, in shade; elevation 600 m (1.970 feet); average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Comment: Lucanus cervus is Central and South European species. It is probably the most attractive beetle of Europe. It can reach up to 8 cm in length. The male's huge 'jaws' (antlers, mandibles) give it a fierce appearance. In reality the mandibles are too weak to seriously injure one's finger. They are used in courtship displays and wrestling with other males much like with deer. Much more 'dangerous' are female's jaws in spite of the fact that they are much smaller (biological dimorphism). They can indeed inflict a painful bite. The larvae of the stag beetle live within rotting logs very long - up to five years before pupating. Contrary, pupas and adults live much shorter time, from a few weeks to few months only. The natural reaction of the beetle to an approach is to remain motionless. Hence they are benevolent objects for photographers. When I was young, spending my holidays in Bohinj Mountains of Julian Alps, I was seeing several stag beetles every year. Now before this find I haven't see it for last six or seven years. The population of this beetle is shrinking drastically in many places. It is already extinct in Denmark. Registered in the second appendix of the Habitats Directive of the European Union from 1992. The species is also registered in the third appendix of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Berne convention) of 1982. Pravilnik o uvrstitvi ogroenih rastlinskih in ivalskih vrst v rdei seznam, Uradni list RS, t. 82/2002 (Regulation of enlisting of endangered plant and animal species onto Red List, Official Gazette of Republic Slovenia, no. 82/2002) (2002). Ref.: (1) H.Garms, L. Borm, Fauna Europas, Georg Westermann Verlag (1977), translated to Slovenian; ivalstvo Evrope, Mladinska Knjiga (1981), p 382. (2) http://www.kerbtier.de/Pages/Themenseiten/enHirschkaefer.html (3) http://www.natura2000.si/uploads/tx_library/Priloga_5a_1351_bionomics_and_distribution_01.pdf

Ladybird Beetle and Larva

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