David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital Video Images
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ Beetles 51 – Chequered Beetles
BEE-EATING
BEETLE Trichodes leucopsideus
·
Trichodes leucopsideus is one of the European Chequered
Beetles (Cleridae). ‘Bee-eating’
Beetles refers more specifically to the members of the genus Trichodes, most of which possess chequered black and
red markings, and doubtless indicating their distastefulness to potential
predators, but in this species the two black spots on the elytra are
distinctive, and this insect is also noticeably smaller than the other members
of the same genus. The activity inferred by the generic vernacular name of Trichodes spp. beetles is peculiar to their predatory
larvae, as their eggs are laid close to the nests of solitary bees or Honey Bees Apis
mellifera (the early stages of which will be eaten). The adult beetles
will be found feeding on the pollen of umbellifers, or on smaller insects,
usually other pollen, or nectar-eating beetles, that they probably encounter at
random. The exact specificity of prey isn’t known by the author, but it would
seem likely that each Trichodes species will
inhabit its own ecological niche, having predatory associations with one or
more species of bee.
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