Harlequin beetle

Harlequin Beetle Bock

The Harlequin Bock ( Acrocinus longimanus ) is a beetle of the family of longhorn beetles ( Cerambycidae ).

Features

Harlequin bucks are about seven inches long. The chitin armor is colorful patterned: The drawing consists of various intertwined stripes and spots in the colors black, gray, red and pink. From this color is due his German designation ago. The animals have the typical elongated shape of a longhorn beetle. The antennae are long and filiform. Remarkable are the unusually long front legs that can reach nearly twice the length of the body. The front legs of the males are still significantly longer (up to twice as long ) than those of females.

Lifestyle and dissemination

The beetles inhabit tropical rain forests from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. They usually sit on trees and feed on the emerging there juices and bee pollen. The coloring is very striking, but the beetle is difficult to see through it on tree bark or the forest floor: His outlines dissolve in the light on ( Somatolyse ).

The larvae live exclusively in fallen tree trunks of the family of the mulberry family ( Moraceae ), eg of figs ( Ficus ), Brosimum and Bagassa guianensis and the family of the dogbane family ( Apocynaceae ), eg Parahancornia fasciculata and feed on wood. You need 4 to 12 months for their development.