Two-spotted aphody - all life in manure
Nature has disposed in such a way that many of its inhabitants choose manure heaps as their habitat. So did one of the dung beetles: aphody two-spotted. Horse and cow dung became for our hero both home and food.
Meanwhile, the beetle itself has a rather attractive appearance.
Beetle biology
Classification
Aphodius the two-spotted received his name from an accurate translation of the Latin name: Aphodius bimaculatus. According to biological classification, this dung beetle belongs to the Lamellar family, being a representative of the genus Aphodia, beetles predominantly living in the litter of large animals.
Description
The two-spotted aphody was given its name thanks to a pair of large dark spots located on the shiny red elytra. The size of the beetle is small, in length it grows to one centimeter, and the maximum recorded record is only 12 millimeters.
The head and disc of the pronotum of the beetle are black and shiny, the lateral parts are painted to match the elytra - in brick red color. The intensity of color depends on the habitat of a particular individual.
Spread
The area of distribution of two-spotted aphody is small. These are some European and Asian countries:
- Austria;
- Belarus;
- Hungary;
- Germany;
- Kazakhstan;
- Kyrgyzstan;
- Lithuania;
- Moldova;
- Poland;
- Romania;
- Slovakia;
- France;
- Czech Republic;
- Estonia.
In Russia, a two-spotted aphody is found in almost the entire territory with the exception of the Far North and the Far East.
Attention! The distribution of aphodia is tied to pastures of cattle and horses.
In nature, these dung beetles prefer to settle on farms, in household plots of owners holding cattle. Desired places of resettlement are also pastures of domestic animals. On the meadows where animals graze, there are many heaps of litter, near which beetles are concentrated.
Our help! Manure for two-spotted aphodia beetles is both home and shelter, and the most beloved delicacy.
Life cycle
The life cycle of the two-spotted aphody is poorly studied, few people want to poke around in cow droppings, looking for a small bug. Therefore, for example, there is not even an exact indication of the time of their summer. According to some data, beetles begin their mating season in May, according to others - in June, according to the third - in July or August.
In one, entomological scientists agree: beetles lay their eggs inside or near the litter of cattle and horses. Inside this substrate they are incubated for a short time, after which the next stage of the insect appears - the larva.
Inside the litter, the dung beetle larvae also develop, whitish in appearance with six legs.
Having plenty of litter and having reached a certain size, the larvae pupate immediately. In the pupal stage, beetles are most likely to winter, and in the next season a new generation of dung beetles appears.
Attention! Thus, the two-spotted aphody is a full-cycle insect.
The number of insects and the reasons for its decrease
The number of two-spotted aphody is gradually decreasing, thanks to this negative factor, beetles were also listed in numerous Red Books.Currently, they have become noticeably smaller even in those regions where these insects were ordinary inhabitants.
The extinction of the beetle occurs almost throughout its distribution. A certain balance of numbers is observed only in the steppes of the Volgograd region and adjacent areas of Saratov.
There are several reasons for the decrease in the number of aphody two-spotted:
- reduction in the number of horses and cattle;
- chemical treatment of sown areas and meadows;
- transition to non-breeding, stall, keeping animals.
Some experts especially highlight a sharp decrease in the number of horses, whose litter is most conducive to the functioning of aphodia. Compared to cow herds, horse herds have drastically reduced their numbers.
Horses have ceased to play a dominant role in agriculture compared to the last century. They are not used either as draft power or as vehicles. That is why a decrease in the number of two-spotted aphodia has been noticed even in European countries, where the use of pesticides for tillage has been practically reduced to zero.
Resettlement of cows and bulls for keeping in pens also reduced the natural habitat zone of beetles in comparison with the usual grazing in meadows. Pasture reduction is the second unfavorable factor for dung beetles.
Conservation Measures
In the number in which the two-spotted aphody was found in the middle of the last century, it is hardly possible to restore the beetle now. The exit for the conservation of a rare insect can be specially equipped artificial resettlement zones. They can be organized near farms, racecourses, stud farms and other facilities with horses or cattle.
Unfortunately, we could not find a video on which a two-spotted aphody was presented. Instead, we suggest watching a funny story about his neighbor, the common dung beetle.
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