Hololepta plana

Stutz flattened beetle

The Oblate Stutz beetle ( Hololepta plana ) is a beetle of the family of Stutz beetles. The genus name " Hololepta " ( AltGr. Ὁλος, holos, "whole" and λεπτός LEPTOS, "thin" ) is quite flat, a quality that by the style name " plana " (Latin planus " flat, flat" ) nor is underlined. The widespread beetle lives under is sloughing bark of softwoods.

Characteristics of the beetle

The beetle has a shiny black, very flattened body, which reaches a length of eight to nine millimeters.

The head is pulled up to his eyes in the front chest and can not be retracted. According missing on the ventral side of the curved plate-like enlargement of the anterior chest forward ( throat plate ), usually occurring in the Stutz beetles protects the mouthparts when they retract the head ( Fig. 1). The upper jaw are slender, equal in length, slightly curved on the sides and toward more curved only the tip inside. The buttons are pine four tier and filiform, the short labial palpi tripartite. The sensors consist of a slender basal joint, which is bent at the base to the back and then slightly curved backwards. It follows forward bent ( geniculate ) the seven-membered long reddish scourge which widens outward and ends in a tripartite flattened end button. Due to the fit and the hair Mehrgliedrigkeit the lobe is laminated ( Fig. 2).

The laterally finely rimmed pronotum is cut on the front edge is broadened first back strongly and then again to the base a little narrower. The base is bent outwards.

The elytra are smooth and bare and ungestreift up on rudiments at the wing base. As with all truncated rear nozzle beetles they are, but not perpendicular to the body axis, but on the wing seam is shorter than the side of the wing covers. The last two abdominal segments are not covered by the elytra.

On all legs, the rails are extended and serrated on the outer edge, the front rails tetradentate. The front rails are not cut like teeth on the inner edge. The tarsi are all petite slender, five-membered and maroon. The penultimate visible (sixth ) abdominal segment ( Propygidium ) lies in a plane with elytra and pronotum.

Biology

Larvae and adults are predators under the bark of deciduous trees, mostly poplars.

Dissemination

It is in the Beetle to a widespread species that occurs in almost all of Europe.