Trichodes spp Checkered Beetles

In the Loire Valley there are two striking checkered beetles that look very similar and are quite commonly encountered during the summer. Both are red and blue-black, with black heads and rather hairy. Both parasitise bees (wild solitary bees, not domesticated honey bees) and are called Clairon des abeilles in French. The adult beetles are usually found visiting flowers, often umbellifers or daisies, where they will eat pollen and hunt small insects.

Trichodes alvearius
Found mainly in the Paris Basin, central lowland France and the south-east Mediterranean coast, more rarely in the south-west of France, and rare in the north-west. This species can be distinguished by the upper black band being V-shaped, and the tip of the elytrae being red ie the lower black band does not quite reach the tip. The elytrae have a fine continuous black line all the way down the inner edge ie down the middle of the beetle's back.

Trichodes alvearius on Field Scabious Knautia arvensis in my orchard, July 2020.

Trichodes apiarius
Scattered records throughout France, with a gap between Nantes and Bordeaux along the Atlantic coast, and a concentration of records on the south-east Mediterranean coast. They can be identified by their upper black band being more or less straight across (definitely not forming a V), and their definitely black elytrae tips.

Trichodes apiarius on Field Scabious Knautia arvensis in my orchard, July 2020.

A key to all the Trichodes species in France is available here [link].

Leaf Rolling Weevils Attelabidae

There are three species of leaf rolling weevil that you may encounter in the Touraine Loire Valley.

Hazel Leaf Rolling Weevil Apoderus coryli (Fr. L'Apodère du noisetier) makes neat and tidy cylindrical rolls, tucked in at the ends and almost exclusively out of Hazel Corylus avellana leaves. The adult weevil is red with a black head.

'Cigar' made by Hazel Leaf Roller out of Hazel leaf, photographed in the Claise Valley.

Hazel Leaf Rolling Weevil Apoderus coryli, on Hazel, in my orchard, Claise Valley, Indre et Loire.

Birch Leaf Rolling Weevil Deporaus betulae (Fr. Rhynchite du bouleau) makes rather cone shaped and somewhat untidy 'cigars', narrow at the attached end and widening to the other end, on a variety of tree species -- frequently Hazel, and certainly not exclusively Birch. The adult weevil is black.

 'Cigar' made by Birch Leaf Roller out of a Hazel leaf, in my orchard in the Claise Valley.

Vine Leaf Rolling Weevil Bysticus betulae (Fr. Cigarier). Their rolled leaf is frequently, but not exclusively found on grape vines. They will also use fruit trees such as apples and pears. It uses the entire leaf and produces an untidy cigar shape that tapers at both ends. The adult beetle is metallic green, purple or blue.

 Vine Leaf Roller, 'cigar' left, adult beetle right, in grape vines at Saint Georges sur Cher.

Photo courtesy of Christophe Davault.

Cardinal Beetles Pyrochroidae

Cardinal Beetles are a small family of bright scarlet beetles. The larvae are rather flattened and live under bark, predating other insects.

 Larva of a cardinal beetle, either Pyrochroa coccinea or P. serraticornis. Found under firewood pile in Preuilly sur Claise late March 2018. 

 Larva of a cardinal beetle. The cercis (spines at 'tail' end) are straight, which indicates either Pyrochroa coccinea or P. serraticornis. Found under firewood pile in Preuilly sur Claise late March 2018. 

Thanks to Stewart Bevan of the FB group Insects and Other Arthropods of Britain and Europe.

Wasp Beetle Clytra arietis

Scientific Name: Clytra arietis (Cerambycidae).

English Name: Wasp Beetle (Longhorn beetle family).


French Name:

5 Key Characters:

• a remarkable wasp mimic, both in terms of colouring (black and yellow), and behaviour (moves like a wasp, waving its antennae, and can even make a buzzing wasp like sound).
• pronotum (thorax) very rounded.
• 9 - 18 mm long.
• flies well.
•  
  

Lookalikes: Plagionotus arcuatus, which has a different pattern of yellow bands, in arcs and spots.


Habitat: Sunny gardens, hedges. Larvae live in fence post and dead hardwoods. Visits flowers.


Adult Active Period: May-June-July.


Status: Common.


Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:

Violet Oil Beetle Meloe violaceus

Scientific Name: Meloe violaceus (Meloidae).


English Name: Violet Oil Beetle.


French Name: Le Méloé violet (='violet oil beetle').

5 Key Characters:

• black with purple, blue or green irridescence.
• enlarged abdomen which extends well beyond the tips of the wing cases. 
• females (30 mm) much larger than males (10 mm).
• male antennae very kinked, females less kinked.
• thorax finely pitted, lower edge of thorax is obviously indented or curved, not straight, with a depressed area at the base and a large tooth.
  

Lookalikes: Black Oil Beetle M. proscarabaeus, which is usually more mat black, has coarser thoracic pitting and the thorax is almost straight across lower edge.


Habitat: Woodland edges, glades and rides, flower rich grassland, where they eat plants like Lesser Celandine Ranunculus ficaria, Dandelion Taraxacum spp, Cleavers Galium aparine and grasses. The larvae, called triungulins, are parasites of mining bees (ie they enter the bees' nests and eat the pollen the bees have collected and stored for their own larvae).


Adult Active Period: March-April-May-June-July. Adults are toxic and can exude a red liquid containing cantharidine (the dangerous active ingredient in Spanish fly) if distressed.


Status: The presence of Violet Oil Beetles indicates a robust population of mining bees and high quality flower rich grassland. The beetles are in decline because flower rich grassland is in decline, destroyed by agricultural intensification, development and changes in land use. The solitary bees who are essential for the survival of the triungulins are also in decline. Violet Oil Beetles make a very good indicator species for the health of their environment, and focusing on maintaining and creating flower rich grassland will benefit the beetles and their host bees.

Further reading and references: Buglife Oil Beetle Species Management Sheet.


Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:

Ground Beetles - Carabidae

There are several hundred species of Ground Beetle in Europe and most of them are black. A few species are metallic. They are nocturnal, although the metallic species tend to be active by day also. Many of them have fused wing cases and cannot fly. They eat a wide range of invertebrates, carrion and plant material. They tend to be long lived and hibernate through the winter.

A typical Ground Beetle, Harpalus sp, photographed in March
and identified by Cédric Alonso of Le Monde des Insectes.

Golden Ground Beetle Carabus auratus:
A large greeny gold species found in fields and gardens. Very fast moving and active, they prey on earthworms, insects and snails. They will eat garden pests such as Colorado Potato Beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata. This one was photographed in a garden near le Grand Pressigny.














Harpalus spp: Harpalus is a genus of ground beetle with a large number of species, many of them difficult to tell apart, especially from photographs. They are smallish in size and generally associated with dry agricultural land.

A pair of Harpalus sp mating on the seed head of a Wild Carrot Daucus carota plant.

Violet Ground Beetle Carabus violaceus:
Smooth wing cases with irridescent violet around the edges. Large, common, especially in gardens and hedges. Nocturnal, hunting slugs. 

Violet Ground Beetle larva in our orchard.

 

Adult Violet Ground Beetle, possibly the same individual as the larva above.

Bloody-nosed Beetle - Timarcha tenebricosa

Scientific Name: Timarcha tenebricosa (Chrysomelidae).

English Name: Bloody-nosed Beetle.

French Name: Le Crache-sang (='the spit-blood')

5 Key Characters:

• satin black.
• domed back.
• flightless, with elytra (wingcases) that are fused together.
• pronotum (the section between the head and the abdomen) narrows towards the body.
• usually seen walking ponderously across the ground.

Lookalikes: Lesser Bloody-nosed Beetle T. goettingensis, which is smaller and shinier (and possibly more common in this area). Timarcha are called bloody-nosed beetles because when distressed they will exude a red fluid from the mouth.

Habitat: Grasslands where there are bedstraws Galium spp, its foodplant.

Active Period: Adults can be seen from April to August.

Status: Common.

Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:
All photographs will enlarge in a new window if you click on them. Row 1 ambling across a track at l'Etang de la mer rouge in the Brenne, June.

Rural Tracks

Throughout France there is a network of variously named public rights of way. One of the most frequently encountered by walkers is the chemin rural (plural chemins ruraux). These are (usually) unpaved tracks owned and maintained by the local commune. They are almost always ancient laneways, winding through farms and today used by walkers, horse riders, hunters and farmers. Sometimes they are unmarked, but usually they have a small sign at either end with the letter R, C or V and an a number to identify them. They also frequently have the standardised walking trail symbols posted along them and appear on maps as part of the national hiking trail (randonnée) network. Even when they appear to be private farm tracks, the public is permitted to walk them. Walking them in all seasons is a great way to get to know the wildlife of this area, as they are usually long thin grasslands bordered by hedges, woodland or agricultural land, and sometimes even aquatic habitats such as streams, ditches, springs and ponds. You are unlikely to meet another person on most of them.

A chemin rural near Yzeures sur Creuse, October.

A chemin rural near Yzeures sur Creuse, October.

A notice issued by the local authority who has responsibility for maintaining this chemin rural, stapled to a trackside tree. It says that motorised vehicles are not permitted on this track between October and May ie the months when it is likely to be wet. The commune very sensibly does not want the track churned up and ruined by hunters' vans or farm machinery.

Bird watching in the Brenne down a track near la Maison du Parc.

Bird watching in the Brenne, near l'Etang vieux. This track had a sign temporarily banning agricultural vehicles because it was flooded, however that didn't stop anyone on foot who was prepared to take off their boots and slosh.

The sign on this track in the Brenne says 'Attention. Track under repair. Do not tow vehicles down it.' There was no problem (apart from ankle deep water) in walking down it.

A track through the bocage country along the River Vienne near Chinon.

A track through arable crop land and forest. This is one of my butterfly transects.

Spotted Longicorn - Chlorophorus glabromaculatus

Scientific Name: Chlorophorus glabromaculatus Cerambycidae ('chlorophorus' = wearing yellowy-green; 'glabromaculatus' = hairless spots).

English Name: Spotted Longicorn.

French Name: le Clyte poilu (='the hairy Clyte').

5 Key Characters:

• a black beetle, covered in short dense golden hairs over most of the thorax and elytra (wing cases).
• a pattern of 3 black spots on each elytra and a pair of small spots on the thorax, formed by the absence of hairs in these places.
• deeply notched eyes.
• adults, max 15mm long, present in gardens, eating pollen June - August.
• larvae develop in dry dead wood.

Lookalikes:  Other black spotted yellow longicorns. 

Habitat: Gardens with flowers where the adults can eat pollen. Living broadleaf trees (especially oak, but also chestnut and willow) with dry dead wood, either dead branches or fallen to the ground, where the larvae can develop. We have had them in the house, when they have either emerged from firewood, or flown in from the garden.


Adult Active Period: June-July-August.

Status: Common and widespread. 


Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:

Nice try, but this Spotted Longicorn has misidentified itself...in the house, Preuilly sur Claise, August.

Investigating a bag in the house, Preuilly sur Claise, August.

A specimen found in the house, photographed using a whitebox technique.

A flower longhorn beetle - Stictoleptura cordigera

Scientific Name: Stictoleptura cordigera (subfamily Lepturinae, family Cerambycidae).

English Name: No vernacular name (a flower longhorn).


French Name: Le Lepture cordigère (='flower longhorn bearing a mark like a heart'), le Lepture porte-cœur (='heart bearing flower longhorn').

5 Key Characters:

• adults 14 - 20 mm.
• head, pronotum (thorax) and abdomen black, elytra (wing cases) red with a distinctive black pattern.
• adults most often observed visiting flowers, especially umbellifers.

Lookalikes:

Habitat: Adults found on flowers, especially umbellifers Apiaceae. Larvae found in rotten deciduous trees (which they eat), especially Oaks Quercus spp and Sweet Chestnut Castanea sativa.

Adult Active Period: June-July-August.


Status: Reasonably common. Like all large longhorns with life cycles that take 2 -3 years to complete they are somewhat threatened by the removal of dead wood in forests and gardens.

Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:

On Field Scabious Knautia arvensis in our orchard.

On Wild Parsnip Pastinaca sativa.

Eurasian Glow-worm Lampyris noctiluca

Scientific Name: Lampyris noctiluca (Lampyridae).

English Name: Eurasian Glow-worm (Firefly family).


French Name: Le Lampyre (='shiner'); le ver luisant (='glowing worm').

Larva, on roadside bank, Sainte Maure de Touraine.

5 Key Characters:

• males look like beetles (which they are) and can fly.
• females, with their many segmented bodies, look like larvae and are wingless.
• females emit bioluminescence in the form of glowing green under the tip of the abdomen to attract a male at night.
• 1.5 - 3 cm long.
• brownish.
  

Lookalikes: Lesser Glow-worm Phausis splendidula, which has 3 spots of light. Larvae could be mistaken for a large Ladybird Coccinellidae larvae.


Habitat: Grass, from lawns to roadside verges. Often encountered in large not too pristine gardens, where the larvae eat snails and the females will glow on the grass at night.


Adult Active Period: June-July.


Status: Common but declining. Despite the vernacular names they are beetles, not worms.


References and Further Reading: 
Jean-Henri Fabre's chapter on the glow-worm can be read in English here.


Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:

Gardens

Gardens are increasingly important as habitat, particularly when a string of gardens join together, effectively becoming a single site. With the increasing loss of natural habitats, man made spaces such as gardens can provide a haven for birds, mammals, insects, reptiles and amphibians. A few simple features in your garden can benefit wildlife, and produce rewards in terms of increased biodiversity for very little effort .

A Compost Heap:

A compost heap provides habitat for the larval stages of insects (eg certain species of Soldier Fly Stratiomyidae, Rose Chafers Cetonia aurata); nesting sites for reptiles (eg Western Whip Snake Hierophis viridiflavus); and a source of nutrients for fungal mycorrhiza. The flies, beetles and fungi are all acting to break down the organic matter in the compost heap so you can recycle the nutrients back into the garden soil. The snake is simply using the heat, humidity and protection of a pile of rotting plant material as a safe and comfortable nest and hibernacle. Non-venomous snakes such as this are no threat to your safety in the garden and will help keep down the population of nut, vegetable and root munching small rodents (such as voles and mice).

A 'Wild Flower' Meadow:

This 'wild' flower meadow is at la Chatonniere. A mixture of native and non-native seeds are sown in conjunction with a cereal crop such as oats to form a flowery meadow in the summer.

The flowers include Field Poppies, Californian Poppies (not native), Annual Cornflowers and Viper's Bugloss. The choice of flowers is partly aesthetic, but also to encourage biodiversity in this organic garden.

The flowers attract pollinators and the undisturbed long vegetation allows bumble bees to nest safely. Many small creatures will be attracted to the unmown, untreated site.

Safety features:

A stick placed in a water butt allows small creatures that fall in to exit. With no easy to grip 'escape ladder' lizards for example, which often find themselves in the water butt, will get too cold to pull themselves up the plastic sides and will drown. It is a good idea to also place a square of polystyrene as a float that creatures can clamber up onto rather than have to swim and exhaust themselves.

Areas of Semi-Natural Grassland:
If your garden is large enough, or includes an area such as an orchard, one of the easiest ways of managing parts of it are as semi-natural grassland ie native grass rather than lawn, with self seeded wildflowers. It differs from the 'Wildflower Meadow' above because there is no need to augment the plants by sowing extra seed. This type of grass requires mowing just once a year, in September. By this time in the season all the wildflowers will have set seed, and what is left to mow won't be too lush. You can safely leave the mown 'grass' on the ground and it will not increase the fertility of the soil. The system saves a lot of time and effort. You keep woody species (eg self seeded trees) under control and prevent scrub developing because you cut them off annually, and you prevent many weed species (eg nettles) from dominating as the soil remains low in fertility. If you wish you can mow paths through the grass throughout the year, but you must take the clippings away. It is a good idea to stake plants that you particularly wish to protect from being stood on or mowed over in the spring and summer.

If you want to put a bit more work in to maintaining the natural grass and wildflowers and have the time, you can choose to rake up the mown grass rather than leave it lie. The resulting 'hay' can be deposited around fruit trees. The action of raking will lift matted vegetation, reduce soil fertility and create random bare areas for wild flower seeds to germinate and thrive with less competition from the grass. You can also grub out the woody 'volunteers' if you are feeling strong and energetic. It will prevent them coppicing from repeated cutting and annual growth cycles and forming trip hazards or eventually getting too thick for the mower to cope with.

You will be amazed at the variety of wildflowers that will spontaneous appear. With the wildflowers will come bees, butterflies and flower visiting beetles. Dragonflies will appreciate the longer vegetation, as will small mammals and reptiles. Having an area of semi-natural grassland is probably the single easiest and most effective way of increasing and maintaining the biodiversity of your garden.

Our orchard is mowed in the autumn, and by December orchid leaf rosettes are easily visible. They are staked to prevent people accidently standing on them or being mowed over when spring paths are created. The stakes are trimmed prunings from the fruit trees.

An  orchid leaf rosette amongst the grass and other wildflowers in the winter, carefully staked so as to mark its position and protect it from being trodden on or mowed over.

A Brash Pile:

If you have the room, a pile of brash (hedge clippings, fruit tree prunings) makes a great shelter for medium sized mammals such as hedgehogs, as well as reptiles (especially snakes) and amphibians (especially newts). The brash is all the vegetative matter that is too big or woody to compost. You may wish to burn it in the winter, but if you do so, make sure you take material off the pile and make a bonfire in a separate place on the day you plan to burn. Don't burn all of the material at once. By building a new pile for burning and not using all the material you ensure that you don't inadvertently kill creatures living under the pile.

Insect Hotels:

Insect hotels provide nesting sites for solitary bees and wasps, hibernation and resting sites for other insects, sanctuary for amphibians and reptiles. They can be made from old pallets and stocked with a range of dry grass, bamboo of different dimensions, wooden blocks with drilled holes of different dimensions, sticks and twigs, stones and terracotta shards, moss. Give it a roof with eaves to protect the entrances to holes from the weather. Place it is a sunny position facing south or east.

Chafers - Scarabaeidae

Chafers are part of the very large scarab family of beetles (Scarabaeidae). Chafers can be distinguished by their short elytra (wing cases) which leave the tip of the abdomen exposed. Their antennae end in clubs which can be opened out into a fan. They fly well, beating their wings about 46 times a second (slightly faster than a dragonfly). In French they are call hannetons or cétoines. There is a key to the French species available from here. (The link is from the excellent French insect forum Le Monde des Insectes, but the key was produced by OPIE, the government office for insects in the environment - the two sites are closely linked.) There is now considerable disquiet about the tremendous decline in chafer numbers and many species are no longer ubiquitous, but at best only locally common.

Rose Chafer Cetonia aurata
Sometimes called the Green Rose Chafer. Usually metallic green, but can be bronze. Always has some white markings. Coppery red underneath. Adults active May - October, in the sun, eating flowers. The larvae live in rotting timber, especially old willows. Common and unmistakable in this area. In French - la Cétoine dorée or hanneton des roses. Maria Fremlin has been studying them in Colchester, Essex, England, for several years and has some useful information and links on her website ('Know your Chafers', an article she wrote in 2008 is particularly useful). She also recommends André Lequet's page on Rose Chafers, which gives even more details on life cycles and also shows how to tell male from female. Both are at pains to point out that the Rose Chafer grubs do not eat plant roots, but rotting plant material (such as compost).

A Rose Chafer buries itself in the soil in March.

In an artichoke flower.

Feeding on rose stamens -- one of their favourite foods.

Cockchafer Melolontha melolontha
Often called Maybug, this large beetle (25 -30 mm) is found in gardens, woods and hedgerows from April-June. You may encounter them on bushes and along walking trails in the spring. Often observed swarming around trees on summer evenings or crashing into lit windows. Eats the leaves of deciduous trees. The larvae eat plant roots and can cause damage to crops and lawns (they are one of the prey that corvids in fields are seeking). Modern pest control has meant that this species is much less abundant than it used to be, but it is still common, with a lifecycle that means that every 3-4 years there are higher numbers. Called le hanneton commun in French. Don't confuse with the Summer Chafer Amphimallon solstitialis which is smaller. Below, 13 photos of a female Cockchafer, taken in Preuilly-sur-Claise, April.






















































Tropinota hirta/squalida
A common chafer often found eating the centres of flowers of many kinds. It can be an agricultural pest. Very hairy, with variable white markings on the elytra (wing cases). Do not confuse with Oxythyrea funesta, which has white spots on the pronotum (the section between the head and the wing cases) as well. Le Jardin de Lucie has an excellent post on how to tell T. hirta, T. squalida and O. funesta apart. Known as la cétoine poilue in French (='the hairy chafer'). Below, 5 photographs of this species in a buttercup Ranunculus sp, taken in our orchard, April.

Feeding on a dandelion Taracacum sp.

Valgus hemipterus:
A small fairly common chafer that can be found on flowers or wood in May and June. They have particularly short elytra. Do not confuse with the species above.Le Jardin de Lucie has an excellent post with detailed photos and lots of information here. This one, photographed in our vegetable garden on a dead iris flower, is male.














Garden Chafer Phyllopertha horticola:
A small species, the pronotum (section between the head and body) is sometimes nearly black and the elytra can have blue or green iridescence. Adults are visible in June and July, in dry places, often swarming where it is sunny. They feed on a wide range of woody and herbaceous plants and can be a pest of fruit crops. The larvae eat grass roots. The one below was photographed at the Etang Neuf hide in the Réserve naturelle de la Chérine in the Brenne.