If in your garden the plants suddenly cease to bear fruit or simply die for an unknown reason, it means that some pest has wound up on your land. Amateur gardeners faced with this problem claim that either
wireworm larvae, or their parent is a nutcracker. This oblong insect has a dark brown color with a metallic luster on the shell. The bottom of the wings has a pointed conical shape, on the side similar to the conductor’s tailcoat, which gives a certain sophistication and elegance to representatives of this species.
Nutcracker Beetle Habitats
This type of insect lives wherever natural conditions allow it, except for permafrost places. The most diverse species of such an insect as the nutcracker beetle prevail in South America, Africa, and tropical places. Depending on the place of their residence, the color and uncomplicated pattern on the elytra change, accompanied by various colorful shades. In nature, individuals of different sizes are found, ranging from small to very large.
Distinctive feature
The nutcracker has an amazing ability to jump, while emitting a characteristic click of a mechanical shutter. He does this in order to turn his body into a normal position, since due to short legs it can lose balance. The length of adults is from 10 to 20 mm. The insect develops slowly - from 3 to 5 years.
Nutcracker Beetle Stages
Like other representatives of the insect world, in the early spring, the nutcracker (female) lays white eggs (3-5 each) in soil cracks, under heap piles or under small lumps of earth. She makes such clutches of 30 or 40 pieces. After a month, larvae appear from the testicles. Growing up, they become elongated in shape and very thin. The larvae are golden brown in color with a brilliant hue. In common people we call them wireworms because of their similarity to copper wire. They prefer to spend winter in moderately moist and warm soil. In the autumn, when the ground freezes, they go to deeper places, and in the spring they begin to get close to the surface. In the summer, garden plots become their second home.
Nutcracker Bioluminescence
This concept suggests that some of their species are capable of emitting light. The luminescent organs of beetles are under a thin cuticle, and they were formed with the help of large phytogenic cells filled with microparticles of uric acid and abundantly intertwined with nerves and trachea. They supply oxygen, which is necessary for oxidative processes. Kukuho is a representative of this type of insect, which has the greatest brightness. It can be used as a night lamp, and some tribes of the Indians attach this little "lamp" to their feet when they go on a night hunt.
Sowing dark beetle
The sowing dark nutcracker beetle, the photo of which you see on the right, belongs to the winged wing order. It has a brownish grayish tint and reaches a size of up to 9 mm. This species lives in the mountainous parts of the western regions, as well as in the northern forest-steppe. Destroys root crops, corn and vegetables. Uniformly colored cylindrical larvae reach 28 mm.
Spends winter in the ground at a great depth, reaching up to 80 cm. He leaves his winter shelter at the end of May and is on the ground until mid-June. Prefers heavy clay soil.