This beetle belongs to the family Usachi and is the only representative of the genus Rosalia in all of Europe. This genus is relict; it came to our time from the distant past, having survived several geological eras. Alpine barbel is a very large and amazingly beautiful bug. It is described in detail in the article.
Appearance
This bug looks very impressive. It has large dimensions: in length from 15 to 40 mm, the body itself is black, but is covered on top with a blue, blue or gray-blue hairline that looks very elegant. The back is marked by a black spot at the center of the upper edge, its sides have a blunt tooth and a sharp tubercle on both sides of the disk. The flat elytra is decorated with a variable dark pattern (there are barbel and without it): in the middle there is a wide band and a spot at each edge. The beetle has very long antennae: in the male they are twice as long as the body, while in the female they are shorter; they go beyond the elytra with only two segments; they are blue in color, with transverse stripes of thick black bristles.
Habitat
This handsome man is quite widespread. In Europe, it can be found throughout the territory, from the Alps and Pyrenees to the southernmost border of Switzerland, as well as in Moldova, Belarus and the Ukrainian Carpathians. Scientists have confirmed that the Alpine barbel lives in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, in northern Iran, in some countries of the Caucasus. In Russia, its habitat covers the Voronezh, Rostov, Samara, Chelyabinsk, Belgorod regions, Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, as well as Bashkortostan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Karachay-Cherkessia, the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic and Crimea.
Alpine barbel prefers broad-leaved and mixed forests, in which beech, elm and hornbeam plants grow. In the mountains it settles at an altitude of up to 1,500 meters above sea level.
Lifestyle
Adult barbel comes out of wood after wintering around mid-June. They fly until September, then they begin to look for a secluded place, and in October they again go under the bark for the next wintering.
They feed on tree sap, gnawing holes in the trunks of beech, elm, poplar, maple, hornbeam, chestnuts, nuts, pears, willow, linden, hawthorn and other hardwoods. For life, choose old trees, often with rotting or damaged by fire, frost, mushrooms wood. They prefer open, well-lit areas that are warmed up by the sun from all sides. In cloudy weather they hide, and in clear weather they actively run around trees and fly. By the way, these handsome men are excellent flyers and fighters: if someone attacks them, they are very actively fighting off with their powerful jaws.
Barbel is a large beetle with bright and catchy colors. Nevertheless, this does not prevent him from disguising himself perfectly. In nature, it is difficult to notice this insect when it quietly sits on a beech, merging with the gray bark. Also, black spots on the body help him "dissolve" among the glare of light and parts of the shadow.
Alpine barbel is a loner, but sometimes these bugs gather in large swarms. Scientists cannot yet answer the question of exactly when this happens and why they need it.
Breeding
After mating, the female lays eggs in cracks in the bark and cracks on the trunks of old trees at a height of three to six meters. Larvae appear in about two weeks if favorable weather conditions contribute to this. If the summer is rainy and cloudy, then the larvae can hatch in a month. They are large (up to 40 mm in length and 8 mm in width), fleshy, white with orange marks on the pronotum. After birth, immediately "screwed" deep into the trunk. There she gnaws at herself a "cradle", where she turns into a chrysalis.
Transformation from a pupa into an adult occurs only in the third or fourth year, when a young beetle gets out of the tree. This is how an alpine barbel, or alpine lumberjack, propagates.
Security
Despite the wide distribution area, the alpine barbel is on the verge of extinction. The Red Book of many countries, including Russia, contains a record stating that this beetle, as a rare relict species, is under state protection. He was on the verge of extinction in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Germany and Poland. Its number in recent decades has declined sharply in Belarus, Azerbaijan and Armenia, in Ukraine. It is almost impossible to meet this beautiful bright beetle in Moravia and the Balkans.
The reason for this is very simple: massive and uncontrolled deforestation, especially deciduous and mixed, as well as irresponsible catching of beetles, since the Alpine barbel is a welcome exhibit among collectors who pay several hundred euros for it.
The international community is also taking measures to preserve a bright and amazing bug in nature - it is listed in the European Red List, as well as in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, it is protected in many reserves.
Interesting Facts
Alpine barbel has become a symbol of the Danube-Ipoli National Park in Hungary.
The beetle cleans its elytra with its hind limbs, while making a loud chirping sound, as if it tickled.
In the mating season, barbel gently chirps with the ladies and utter aggressive sounds towards their rivals.
The above describes how the alpine barbel (Rosalia alpina) traditionally looks. But sometimes in nature there are beetles of other colors: pure black without a blue cover or pink. Probably the Swedish researcher Karl Linney, who first described him, met a pink barbel, therefore he named the species "Alpine rosalia".
Now you know what an alpine barbel is, what it looks like, where it lives and breeds.