Pietro Brandmayr

The larva of Graphipterus serrator (Forskål 1775) (Coleoptera Carabidae Graphipterini): description and functional morphology

The larval feeding behaviour of Graphipterus senator (Forskal 1775) has been investigated, using field and laboratory observations, by one of the authors. In this paper the larval morphology is described and the correlation of the very unique features of the three larval stages with the myrmecophilous life style is pointed out. The presence of channeled mandibles in the first and second instar suggests liquid feeding, previously unknown for carabid beetles. The body shape, triunguline-like in the first instar, physogastric with anchorage tubercles in the others, indicates different ways of life during larval developement. The sensorial set is remarkable because it is reinforced and strongly specialized, especially in the first instar. On the basis of the larval morphology a phylogenetic relationship with the tribe Peleciini is hypothesized.

PREDATORY BEHAVIOUR ON GROUND BEETLES (COLEOPTERA: CARABIDAE) BY OCYPUS OLENS (MÜLLER) (COLEOPTERA: STAPHYLINIDAE) UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS

ABSTRACT We studied the prey preference and feeding behaviour of adult males of Ocypus olens (Müller) (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), an active predator of many insects, under laboratory conditions. Tests were carried out individually on eight types of carabid beetles: three species with chemical defences and aposematic colours, Brachinus sclopeta (Fabricius, 1792), Anchomenus dorsalis (Pontoppidan, 1763) and Chlaenius velutinus (Duftschmid, 1812), and five species without these characteristics, Pseudophonus rufipes (De Geer, 1774), Steropus melas italicus (Dejean, 1828), Amara anthobia Villa & Villa, 1833, Poecilus cupreus (Linné, 1758) and Calathus fuscipes (Goeze, 1777). Ocypus olens preferred to attack prey without chemical defences and aposematic colour patterns, possibly stimulated by the preys type of movement.

The evolutionary history of the genus Abax (Coleoptera, Carabidae)

The genus Abax Bonelli has been revised by means of the “internal sac inflating method”. Seventeen species have been recognized, some of them forming allopatric species groups: A. exaratus with 5 species, A. beckenhaupti with 4 taxonomic units, A. parallelus with 2 units. Most species live on the Alps or in Central Europe: A. pyraeneus is isolated in the Eastern Pyrenees, A. schuppeli on the Carpathian Mountains. Among 15,000 specimens observed, only one hybrid has been found: A. ater Villers × A. parallelepipedus Dejean.

A paleoclimatic model for the evolution of brood watching in the ground beetle genus Molops (Coleoptera Carabidae)

A paleoclimatic model for the evolution of brood care in the genus Molops is given, starting from a probable climatic shift that should have occurred from the Pliocene to the pleistocenic age. The low summer temperatures of this pluvial phase probably prolonged the embryonic development of the eggs, watched by the female in a subterranean chamber. The low mean temperatures shift the thermopraeferendum of the adults and in this way winter activity and aestivation of the population became possible. Lower predatory pressures resulted in a lower female fecundity and at the same time the ovipositor apparatus underwent rudimentation. Molops is a convincing example of the importance of presocial behaviour for the evolution of Coleoptera.