Lixus fasciculatus

Bandaged francis is a Eurasian species. It was discovered in the southern and central regions of Ukraine . In Europe it is known in the north-east of France , south-west Germany , eastern Slovakia , Hungary , the Italian peninsula, southern Poland , Moldova and Russia . It is found in Asia in Turkey , southern Russia, central Asia, Mongolia , northern China , the central part of the Korean peninsula, and Kunashir Island . Approximately lives between 38 ° and 57 ° N Such a settlement suggests that L. fasciculatus originates from the ocean region of the Mesozoic era of Tethys , like other weevils of the genus Lixus , and the subfamily Lixinae as a whole.

Bandaged by Frachnik prefers areas with mild winters (Mediterranean), as well as continental (Ukraine, Altai) and monsoon (Amur region) climates. In regions with cool and humid summers (Northern Germany, Britain), frosty winters (Western Siberia) or in arid regions, it is absent.

This species is common in meadows near reservoirs, in clearings, along roadsides, and in other ruderal biotopes. Also found in the steppe forests and on the glades bordering them. It occurs from May to September.

The whole life cycle of a tauber tied up with a common wormwood. On the "islands" of this plant, the number of adults can reach 13 per 1 sq.m. Adult beetles can also be found in wormwood . Adult individuals feed on leaf edges or chew small longitudinal grooves in the peripheral tissues of petioles and young stems. Sometimes eating bugs extend the tops of these furrows or make closed rounded openings in leaf plates. After eating, adult beetles cleanse their mouthparts on the apical part of the front tibia . When L. fasciculatus cleans the antennae, it passes them through the angle between the leg and foot. In between feeding, an adult insect often remains stationary on the plant for a long time. To reach a neighboring plant, if necessary, the weevil performs short flights.

Mating occurs on fodder plants from the second half of May to the end of June. During the copulation, the male is motionless, while the female often moves, feeds and prepares a place for laying eggs. Egg laying begins in mid-June. Eggs are laid on the adult imago plant one at a time in small pits gnawed by the female at the base of the stems or petioles. One egg laying can take 3 to 25 minutes. The female spends most of this time gnawing holes for masonry. When gnawing, the female makes movements similar to drills: turns her head to the right and left around the longitudinal axis. Obviously, in this way it tears solid plant fibers. She makes so much effort that a large leaf of wormwood trembles. When the deepening is ready, it unfolds, lowers the tip of the abdomen into the fossa and remains motionless in this position for 1-3 minutes, while laying the egg. The egg is yellowish-white, shiny, oval, about 0.5-0.9 × 1-1.1 mm. Feeding and laying of eggs occurs only in the daytime.

Larvae are C-shaped, curved, tan, the head is long and strongly sclerotized (the ratio of head length to width is 1.3-1.5). The larva makes a tunnel in the core of the host plant and feeds on its tissues. Usually the tunnels are straight, but they are curved. The dissection of the stem shows that in the part of the stem 20 cm long there can be up to 4 tunnels. Typically, each tunnel is located in its own part of the stem, but sometimes two tunnels can be located in parallel. At the end of the last age, the larva expands its mink to an oval cell with thin brown walls.

Pupation occurs in the same cell. Larvae (sometimes pupae and adults of a new generation) winter in the stems of wormwood. Because the stems are thick and heavy, insects are well protected from low temperatures and carnivores . Immediately after hatching, the covers of adult insects are soft, brown in color. Gradually, the chitinous cover darkens and hardens, the depressions of the elytra and pronotum are filled with a yellow wax-like substance. Usually, an imago gnaws an oval hole (approximately 3 × 4 mm) in the barrel wall and extends outward. An adult insect may take up to 2 days. Sometimes his body gets stuck in the hole, and the insect dies.