Okologische Untersuch-ungen an Necrophorus F
Okologische Untersuch-ungen an Necrophorus F
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DOI:
10.1007/bf00403155
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发表时间:
1933-01-01
期刊:
影响因子:
--
通讯作者:
PUKOWSKI, ERNA
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
PUKOWSKI, ERNA
Necrophorus beetles are active from May to Nov., usually hibernating in Oct. They feed at night, remaining buried in the earth by day. They feed on dead bodies of small vertebrates, worms, snails, and insects, and also live dipterous maggots and other organisms inhabiting carcasses, N. germanicus attacking Geotrupes. Before ingestion, the food seems to be reduced to a liquid state by ejection of a digestive fluid upon it. N. vespillo, vespilloides, humator, and germanicus breed in May; investigator and fossor in August. They seek a suitable carcass, preferring that of a small vertebrate, testing it with antennae and mouth parts. When a [male] alone finds a carcass, he mounts a high point, and twitches the abdominal tip sometimes for hours, apparently exuding an odor to attract a [female]. The carcass is buried first by undermining it, then by digging a diagonal passage terminating in a rounded crypt into which it is dragged. The carcass is worked into a round shape, and hairs or feathers rubbed off. Each crypt is occupied by a pair or by the [female] alone, other beetles being driven away. The [female] after copulation may chase the [male] away. The 14-15 eggs are laid in the earth along the sides of a special maternal passage leading away from the crypt. The beetles keep the carcass and passages tidy, repair damages, chase away enemies, feed on the carcass and spray it with feces to moisten it, and predigest it by emitting enzymes upon it. The larvae hatch in 5 days, dig through into the maternal passage or directly through the earth to reach the carcass. They react to the smell of the food. Development requires 7 days with 3 instars. The larvae attack the region of the carcass prepared by the parents; very young and newly moulted larvae are also fed by the [female] by regurgitation, until their mouth parts harden. Larvae can develop without this assistance but the % of adults obtained is low. The [female], and sometimes also the [male], remain in the crypt until the larvae leave the carcass. The larvae dig into the earth horizontally away from the carcass and pass into a prepupal state in which N. fossor and investigator pass the winter. N. germanicus, humator, vespillo, vespilloides pupate after 12-17 days, and emerge 14-15 days later, passing the winter as adults. The imagines remain in the pupal chamber until the chitin hardens and then dig to the surface. After 10-13 days of feeding, they are sexually mature and ready to breed. || ABSTRACT AUTHORS: L. H. Hyman