Beetles

Beetle (Bloody-nosed Leaf)

livelinkadmin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:51:44 +0100

The Bloody-nosed Beetle is a small black insect that can be found throughout England, although it is quite rare in the north. It can often be found on grasslands and heathlands and in roadside hedgerows. It has its name ‘Bloody-nosed’ because it can create a drop of bright red fluid from its mouth when it feels threatened. The fluid is quite foul-tasting which stops some predators from attacking it.

The Bloody-nosed Beetle is around two centimetres long and has a large black dome-shaped body which has a purplish sheen to it. It has no wings so it can’t fly, but it has wing cases called 'elytra'. The elytra are fused together and the fused line can be seen running down the middle of the beetle’s back. The Bloody-nosed Beetle has two long antennae on the front of its head which are used to find food. It also has six pairs of legs and this beetle tends to walk very slowly.

Bloody-nosed Leaf Beetles are the largest leaf beetles in England and are mainly active at night. They eat the leaves of bedstraw plants such as cleaver and lady’s bedstraw. The larvae of these beetles are a greenish black colour and can be seen hanging from the leaves of bedstraw plants.

Beetle (Great Diving)

livelinkadmin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:52:22 +0100

The Great Diving Beetle is a large aquatic insect that can be found in weedy ponds, lakes and garden ponds. It has the name ‘Great Diving Beetle’ because it sometimes dives in water when it sees prey and dives into mud when it is disturbed.

The Great Diving Beetle is about three centimetres long and has a long slender-looking body that is dark brown or black. It also has a yellow border around its black head and a yellow border around its thorax which is the middle part of its body. The thorax also holds three pairs of yellow legs and two sets of wings. The hind wings are soft and are used for flying and the front wings are quite hard. The front wings are called 'elytra' and they cover and protect the soft hind wings when the beetle is not in flight. The female Great Diving Beetle has ridges running down the length of her elytra and the male has a smooth elytra.

Great Diving Beetles often fly at night, especially to other ponds if food is scarce. They are strong beetles and will attack and kill tadpoles, young fish and minnows. They also eat insects. The larvae of these beetles eat tadpoles, insects and even other Great Diving Beetle larvae. Great Diving Beetles can also release a foul-smelling fluid when they feel threatened which stops some predators from attacking them.

Beetle (Great Silver Water)

livelinkadmin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:53:14 +0100

The Great Silver Water Beetle is a very rare large aquatic insect that can mainly be found in the Somerset Levels which is a wetland area. It can be found in grazing marshes in still ditches and ‘rhynes’. Rhynes are drainage ditches that help to turn wetland at sea level into useful pasture. It has its name the ‘Great Silver Water Beetle’ because when it swims, bubbles of air get trapped on its underside and these bubbles look almost ‘silvery’ giving this beetle the appearance that it is a silver colour.

The Great Silver Water Beetle is about five centimetres in length and has a black body with a greenish sheen to it. It is divided into three body parts: the head, the thorax which is the middle part of the body and the abdomen. The thorax holds three pairs of black legs and two sets of wings. The hind wings are soft and are used for flying and the front wings are quite hard. The front wings are called 'elytra' and they cover and protect the soft hind wings when the beetle is not in flight.

Great Silver Water Beetles are good swimmers and divers, but they prefer to spend most of their time crawling on water plants because they mainly feed on decaying water plants. The larvae of these beetles eat water snails, but when they are fully-developed they too turn vegetarian like their parents and only eat decaying water plants.

Glow-worm

livelinkadmin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:53:53 +0100

The Common Glow-worm is a nocturnal beetle and not a worm like its name suggests. It can be found on open grassland, grass verges and on heaths, especially in the south of England. It has the name ‘Glow-worm’ because it can emit a pale green light from its body when it is dark. However, it is usually only the female that glows to attract males in June to July.

The male Common Glow-worm is about one and a half centimetres long and has a dark brown body. It has two pairs of black wings. It uses its second pair of wings to fly and the first pair of wings to cover and protect the flying wings. The female is around two centimetres long and has a brown segmented body with no wings. The light glows from the last three abdominal segments on her body.

The female Glow-worm dies soon after she lays her eggs and the larvae that hatch out of the egg are black. They can immediately glow their tails very faintly. They have six legs and thirteen body segments with no wings. Larvae usually remain in their larva form for around two years and feed on small snails by sucking the fluids out of their bodies. After two years the larvae lie very still on their backs and develop into fully-grown Common Glow-worms. Both the male and the female only live as adults for around two to three weeks.

Ladybird (Seven-spot)

livelinkadmin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:54:52 +0100

The Seven Spot Ladybird is a small round red beetle that has its name ‘Seven Spot’ because it has seven spots on its body. It can be found almost anywhere in gardens, woodlands, meadows and hedgerows where there are plant lice called ‘aphids’. Aphids are this ladybird’s favourite food.

The Seven Spot Ladybird is about eight millimetres in length and its body is divided into three distinct parts: the head, the thorax and the abdomen. Its head is black and quite small and its thorax, which is the middle part of the body, is black with pale yellow patches at the front. The thorax also holds three pairs of legs and two sets of wings. The hind wings are soft and are used for flying and the front wings are red and quite hard. The front wings are called 'elytra' and they cover and protect the soft wings used for flying.

Female Seven Spot Ladybirds lay little yellow eggs in small groups on leaves. Black larvae with quite long legs hatch out of the eggs and almost immediately feed on aphids, like their parents. Seven Spot Ladybirds hibernate in large groups over winter in garden sheds and under vegetation. They can often be seen piled up on top of each other when they are hibernating and they do this to keep each other warm.