Golden bronze (Cetonia aurata) is a beautiful large “metal beetle” that flies beautifully. It eats the core of flowers and feasts on the pulp of fruits.
Bronze in peony flower
Description of golden bronze
Golden bronze ( Cetonia aurata) - a representative of the order Coleoptera (beetles), family Lamellaridae x. It belongs to the genus Cetonia ("metal beetle"). Entomologists distinguish five main subspecies of golden bronze and a number of aberrations (variants with additional characteristics and deviations from the typical pattern). The body length of the golden bronze is up to 22.5 mm. Color: emerald green, metallic.
In fact, the beetle is black, but the thin and complex microstructures of its integument, which refract and decompose light, create a play of rays, and the beetle appears metallic green, blue and even copper-red. This coloration, in contrast to ordinary pigmentation, is called structural, or optical (V.S. Grebennikov “Secrets of the world of insects”).
Golden bronzes feed on flowers (wild and cultivated herbaceous plants, trees and shrubs). They gnaw leaves, young shoots and petals. Flower cores are a delicacy for these beetles. They do not disdain the juice and juicy pulp of ripe fruits.
The golden bronze may not be elegant enough, but it is beautifully painted and shimmers with gold. Who has not seen this beetle, which looks like a large emerald, when it sits on a rosehip branch, standing out with its brilliant color against the delicate background of the petals! He sits motionless, day and night, enjoying the aroma of the flower, and at the same time having lunch. Only the too hot sun brings the beetle out of its stupor, and it flies away. Just by the appearance of this lazy creature, one can say that the bronze is a glutton (Jean-Henri Fabre “The Life of Insects. Stories of an Entomologist”).
On a warm sunny day, bronzebacks are especially active. They fly from place to place, sometimes during the flight they do not have time to go around a person and crash into him. As a result of such a collision, the beetle flops to the ground. Usually on the back. After much effort, he manages to roll over and stand in his normal position. The golden bronze design is incredibly interesting. The mechanism of its functioning has been worked out in detail. Here's just one example:
... nature has patented something interesting in the beautiful bronze oval aircraft. The elytra of the bronze fly are almost not raised during flight, lying tightly in their place, on the back. And the strong, sonorous wings are exposed from the side; for this purpose, there is a special cutout on the elytra, characteristic only of bronze birds. And these fast, nimble beetles in flight, with good maneuverability, can compete with such first-class flyers as bumblebees (V.S. Grebennikov “Secrets of the World of Insects”).
Bronze larva
Large white larvae can be seen in a pile of humus. He is fat and well-fed. They are often mistaken for cockchafer larvae.
The larvae of the bronze fly eat continuously and turn dead leaves and stems, already destroyed by rotting, into powder. The veins would remain intact for a long time in the rotting leaves. The larva also eats these slowly rotting remains: with its strong jaws it splits them into fibers and then gnaws them. In her intestines they turn into dough, quite suitable for fertilizing the soil. One of the most active producers of black soil is the bronze larva (Jean-Henri Fabre “The Life of Insects. Stories of an Entomologist”).
Interestingly, larvae planted in a jar with rotting plant debris continue to exist perfectly in captivity. They become the object of observation:
And the larvae lived for a long time in a jar of dust and sometimes showed my guests an original attraction: they rode around the table... on their backs. Don't be surprised: back riding is the only possible way the movements of these creatures, heavy, thick, very similar to the larvae of May beetles, but “offended by God” in relation to their legs, thin, short and weak. The poor fellows, who find themselves outside the underground abode, in the open space, have no choice but to move through energetic contractions of the body; It turned out that it is more convenient to do this while lying upside down until you manage to crawl to the shelter and return to your dungeon (V.S. Grebennikov “Secrets of the World of Insects”).
It is curious that the larvae of the bronze fly feel great not only in a pile of humus, but also in an anthill. Many wild animals know this, such as badgers and foxes. In search of food, they tear apart forest anthills and then devour the delicious fat larvae of the bronze beetle hibernating there.
Bronzovka as a pest
Flower growers do not like bronze beetles, since for them these beetles are deservedly a pest. I am annoyed when a blooming white lilac loses its luxurious inflorescences in just a couple of days. It is she who attracts the attention of large green beetles. They suck out all the juices from the flowers, leaving behind brown spots on the inflorescences. I got the impression that bronzes are especially attracted to the white color. This conclusion can be made if you look at lilac bushes of other colors growing nearby, compare rose hips (white and pink-raspberry) and peonies (very different). Of course, the charming, voracious beetles are not limited to only white or very light flowers, but they are happy to savor them first.
Bronzovkas did not appear on our site right away. They had nothing to do in a village in which blooming gardens had not yet grown. At some point, there were a lot of these emerald beetles. They have turned into a pest. I know quite a few places in the Moscow region where there are practically no golden bronzes. Whether it’s a coincidence or not, they are well aware of the cockchafer, which is not found here.
The golden bronze flies perfectly, so there is no point in destroying it with the help of “chemistry”. Everyone has different methods of destroying bronzes. Some plot owners crush beetles with their feet, others collect them and drown them in jars of water. Golden bronzebirds fly into open windows and doors of terraces and balconies, plopping down on the windowsill or floor with a crash. The beetles quickly come to their senses and try the taste indoor plants. The other day I removed the bronze from an orchid (phalaenopsis) flower. Even here, the gourmet beetle did not change its taste preferences. He chose a phalaenopsis with white flowers! In recent years, alarming information has increasingly appeared in the media that broncos are willingly switching to ripe fruits, which, of course, does not please gardeners.
Bronzovka in the Red Book of the Moscow Region
Fiber's bronze, or brilliant ( Protaetia fieberi), which differs from the golden bronze by “a smooth, shiny, raised periosteal area of the elytra and a wide process of the mesothorax between the middle pair of legs.” It is clear that only an entomologist can determine the difference between these species. The golden-green (copper-red or light bronze) beetle most often lives in broad-leaved forests. Especially in oak ones. It feeds on tree sap and flowers. Its larvae live (and overwinter) in rotten wood of oak, poplar, willow and other deciduous trees. In the Moscow region, Fiber's bronze has become a very rare species: “The highest numbers are near the r.p. Boloomut, where you can observe 3 - 4 individuals per field season. To date, it has not been found in similar biotopes in Ozersky and Serebryano-Prudsky districts.” The brilliant bronze can be found in one of the reserves of the Serpukhov region and in the southeast of the region.
In addition to the golden bronzer, the smooth bronzer is included in the Red Book of the Moscow Region ( Protaetia aeruginosa) and marble bronze ( Protaetia marmorata).
It becomes uneasy to think that the population of the pretty golden bronze, the worst enemy of flower growers, also has a clear tendency to decline. “Irresponsible” gardeners (including me) are confidently approaching the day when this beetle will be listed in the Red Book.
© A. Anashina. Blog, www.site
© "Podmoskovye", 2012-2017. Copying texts and photographs from the site podmoskоvje.com is prohibited. All rights reserved.Herbivorous pests damage not only fruit trees. Oaks, birches and other deciduous plants may suffer from their activities.
Harmful insects attack any parts of trees. Some eat leaves, others damage young branches, and others feed on wood. And if half of the pests do not cause serious harm to the tree, reducing only the decorative effect, then the rest are capable of not only depleting the plant, but also destroying it completely.
Birch sapwood
A pest from the group of bark beetles. Settles on emaciated weakened trees, preferring birch trees. Widely distributed throughout Europe, in areas where favorite trees grow.
A small black beetle with shiny elytra. The male has long, thick hairs on his forehead, while the female has a bare forehead. The elytra are flat, dotted with dotted grooves. The antennae and paws are brown.
Various insecticidal agents are used to kill pests. Trees are treated with solutions of “Fufanon”, “Karate-zeon”, “BI-58”, “Zolon”.
The golden or common bronze is found throughout Europe, in the Crimea, in the Caucasus and in Siberia.
Bronzeworts, swarming in the flowers, shimmer like precious stones, and when they take off, they describe circles in the air with a loud bass hum, almost like cockchafers.
The generic name of the golden bronze beetle - Cetonia - is translated from ancient Greek as “metal beetle”, and the specific name is aurata - “golden”. Its wing covers actually have a metallic sheen, like most bronzebacks. They can be emerald green, copper red, blue, purple, and many subspecies have a golden tint. This coloration is obtained as a result of the refraction of light by the microstructure of the elytra and is called structural, or optical.
SPECIAL FLIGHT
But even in those painted in modest gray or brown colors, it is easy to recognize bronzes by looking closely at their flight. Most other beetles fly with their heavy, fixed elytra raised high so that they do not interfere with the work of their light white wings, and this impairs the aerodynamic qualities of flight. In bronze beetles, the elytra remain folded, and the beetles release their wings through special recesses on the sides. This allows the beetles, despite their massiveness, to be more maneuverable in the air. In addition, the interlocking elytra, especially with a metallic sheen, perfectly protect the bronco from the sun.
SUN BUG
All bronzes are diurnal. At night they descend to the ground and hide under leaves and at the roots. In cool, cloudy weather, they sit motionless on plants, burying their heads deeper in the flowers. And on hot sunny days, when they are especially active, they can be seen in open areas, light edges and clearings, crawling or flying in search of food. The diet of these beetles is very wide: they feed on the flowers of many shrubby, herbaceous and woody plants. In addition, they love rotten fruits and fermented tree sap. Bronze snakes eat flowers fruit trees, but they do not cause much harm, since their mass growth occurs at a time when the trees have already bloomed. The golden bronze has an exquisite taste - it prefers rosehip or rose flowers, feeding on their stamens and nectar.
If you come close, the bronze will notice the danger and quickly fly away, and when caught, it will secrete a droplet of an unpleasant-smelling liquid for its protection.
VISITING THE ANTS
Bronze moth larvae feed on plant debris and live in manure and compost, rotten decaying wood, hollows, and humus soil near roots and stumps. All wood-dwelling bronze beetle species are associated exclusively with deciduous trees and avoid conifers, possibly due to the resin.
Golden and some other bronzes also lay eggs in the cones of anthills, and their larvae live there, feeding on decaying needles and ant secretions. This is where they pupate. For some reason, the ants do not touch either the larvae or the young beetles emerging from the pupae when they leisurely climb out. It is believed that they secrete substances that are attractive to ants, or, conversely, repel them. Many forest dwellers dig up the anthills of red forest ants precisely in order to feast on the larvae of bronze ants.
LEGS NOT FOR WALKING
Young larvae are very voracious, eat continuously and grow very quickly. It is no coincidence that entomologist J. A. Fabre called them active producers of black soil.
White, thick, 2-3 cm long, the larva of the bronze is convex on the back and flat on the ventral side. If you put it on a smooth surface, it turns over on its back and moves like a worm, sticking its small weak legs up. By the way, by this feature it is easy to distinguish it from the larvae of other lamellar beetles. And the larva will need legs when the time comes to pupate; this usually happens after one or two winterings. Getting closer to the surface, with the help of its legs, it uses earth and dust, gluing them together with a special secretion that is secreted in the back of the body, and builds a strong cradle with surprisingly smooth walls from the inside. She will spend quite a lot of time in it before pupating, and then turning into a “metal” beetle. As a rule, young beetles emerge from cocoons in mid-summer and actively feed until autumn, hibernate, and mate and lay eggs the following year.
INTERESTING FACTS
Goliath beetles from tropical forests Central and Southeast Africa, the largest and heaviest beetles on our planet, also belong to the subfamily of bronze beetles. Their length can reach 11 centimeters, and their weight is 47 grams.
BRIEF CHARACTERISTICS
Class: insects.
Order: Coleoptera.
Family: Lamellaridae.
Genus: bronzes.
Type: golden or ordinary bronze.
Latin name: Cetonia aurata.
Size: beetle - 15-20 mm, larvae - 30 mm.
Color: golden, green, bluish with a metallic sheen.
Life expectancy of Golden Bronze: 2-3 years.
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