The wheelbarrow — the hollow on the elytra of some beetles that live under the bark and in the wood — is a device for cleaning the canals inside the wood from drilling flour. It is characteristic of bark beetles . It is also found in other beetles that live under the bark and in wood, from the families Bostrychidae , Colydiidae , Platypodidae , but it is in bark beetles that the greatest diversity of its structure is noted.
A wheelbarrow can have the appearance of simple deep grooves on the slope of the elytra to a deep pronounced depression at the top of the elytra. It can be bordered with hairs, or very large teeth of various shapes compared to the overall body size of the beetle. The edges of the car are predominantly armed with a variety of teeth, spikes or bumps. There may also be hair pubescence.
The shape of the car, the number, shape and location of the teeth and tubercles on its edge, as well as its hairiness, is a reliable diagnostic sign in determining species.
Sometimes, devices similar to a wheelbarrow can form on the lower side of the body — on the abdomen (in representatives of the Scolytini tribe) or even on the front edge of the body — on the pronotum of the males of a number of species from the Xyleborini tribe.
Paving the way, bark beetles push gnawed sawdust ( drilling flour ) to their rear end of the body. Here they get into the car. Backing away, the beetle pushes a portion of drill flour out of the way.
Literature
- Biological Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ch. ed. M. S. Gilyarov ; Edited .: A. A. Baev , G. G. Winberg, G. A. Zavarzin, and others. - M .: Sov. encyclopedia , 1986. - 831 p. - 100 000 copies
- Stark V.N. Coleoptera. Bark beetles. M.; L .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1952. 462 p. (Fauna of the USSR. T. 31).
- Krivolutskaya G. O. Sem. Ipidae - Bark beetles // Key to insects of the European part of the USSR. T. 2. M .; L .: Science, 1965. p. 622-639.