Callipogon relictus
Encyclopedia
Callipogon relictus is a species
of longhorn beetle
which is mostly found in the southern part of Russian Far East
, but also in China
and Korea
. It inhabits mixed and deciduous
forests. The population of Callipogon relictus is decreasing due to deforestation
and uncontrolled collection, and therefore the species are listed in the Russian Red Book (category II).
The larvae of Callipogon relictus develop in the drying deciduous trees. The process takes 4 to 6 years, and the same tree can be populated by larvae several times a year. Larvae bring along spore
s of the fungus Pleurotus citrinopileatus
, that contributes to degradation of the tree. With the length reaching up to 110 mm, Callipogon relictus is the largest beetle of Russia. Larvae of different longhorn beetles can coexist in the same tree, such as Callipogon relictus, Rosalia coelestis
, Leptura thoracica, Rhabdoclytus acutivittis, Anoplodera cyanea and several other species.
of the Tertiary
period and the sole representative of the tropical genus Callipogon in the fauna
of the Old World
– other species of this genus inhabit Central
and South America
s. Callipogon relictus was described in 1898 by the Russian entomologist Andrey Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky
(who wrote his last name as Semyonov until 1906). He distinguished the new species from the other species of the genus by the following features:
These features were later interpreted as a sign of higher evolutionary development of Callipogon relictus compared to other species of its genus.
, to the south and south-east of the town Raychikhinsk
. It is also common in the Khingan and Norsk reserves, in the south of Khabarovsk Krai
(south from Khabarovsk
city), Jewish Autonomous Oblast
and Primorsky Krai
. The northernmost observation was reported near the village of Ekimchan in Amur Oblast. Outside Russia the beetle occurs in Northeast China
, North Korea
and South Korea
.
) is black, with brown elytra
and brown-black feet; there are two pairs of bright spots of hair on pronotum. The size and shape of jaws and antennae
varies among individuals. Antennae are dotted and rather long. Their first segment is short and thickened. The third segment is extended and is longer than the fourth and fifth segments combined. The fourth segment is equal or slightly longer than the fifth, and the 11th segment is longer than the first. The lower parts of third to tenth segments have spines.
Mandible
s are two-toothed and are very large in males, longer than the head; they are much shorter in females. The upper side of the jaw is covered with coarse, wrinkled punctation, and the lower jaw and lower lip have thick shaggy orange felt. Pronotum is convex, with narrow spines on its sides; the spines are longer in females than males. Scutellum is densely covered with yellowish hairs. Elytra
are very long, spotted and rounded at their top; they are more shining in males than in females.
consists of two longitudinal sclerites, which are moved apart by the protruding regularly plate. Clypeus
is small, transverse, whitish. Pronotum covers much of the head. The shield of protonum is smooth at its front, and its back is densely covered with wrinkles. Thoracic legs are short, with long claws, covered with thick bristles.
The egg has an oval shape and is 6–7 mm long. It is pink in the early stage, then darkens and turns black. The chorion
of the egg has deep, thick, slightly faceted cells. The gaps between the cells are smaller than the cells themselves.
Pupa has a sturdy body, antennae
are pressed to the sides. A narrow longitudinal groove runs in the middle of pronotum. Abdomen
is broad, strongly narrowed to the top. Abdominal tergites
are protruding and covered in short thick spines.
forests. It is unknown whether it inhabits temperate coniferous forests, but the beetles were sometimes found in coniferous plantations. Larva feeds on rotten wood, and the adults drink juice, which protrudes from the trunks of linden
, elm and other trees. In captivity, one female could drink up to 0.5 milliliters of sugar syrup at once. Adults are active during the day; in the night they fly to the light sources. During the day, females fly more than males and therefore are encountered more frequently.
Larvae develop in such trees as Japanese elm
, Manchurian Ash, Tilia amurensis and Populus maximowiczii; they rarely occupy Mongolian oak
, sawtooth oak , Siberian elm, Japanese elm, Betula costata, Carpinus laxiflora and Manchurian maple
.
Entomopathogenic fungus
of the form Metarhizium anisopliae
(Clavicipitaceae
family) is deadly for a variety of insects, including the adult Callipogon relictus.
to attract a partner. Mating
occurs on the tree which serves as a feeding ground for larvae, below the place where the female will lay eggs; copulation lasts up to an hour. After mating the male does not leave female. Instead, he places front legs on the elytra of the female and they together climb the tree up to where the female will lay eggs
. Eggs are laid by one or in groups on the bark of trees with a trunk diameter of 30–100 cm. Over a lifetime (adult beetles live up to a month), a female can produce up to 28 eggs. After the female has laid eggs, the couple crawls down tree and dies on the ground.
Newborn larvae dig under the bark making corridors up to 40 cm long and 2 cm wide. They then delve into wood to a depth of 5 to 30 cm creating a network of tunnels there. One tree is re-populated several times and therefore usually contains larvae of different ages; only completely dried out trees are suitable for larva development. If a dry tree branch breaks from the tree with the larvae inside, the larvae stays inside the branch, but produces smaller adults than usual. Larvae live through 4–6 winters. After the last overwintering, they make large cradles (100–150 mm) oriented perpendicular to the trunk, separated from the tree surface by about 2 cm. Then the larva turns in the cradle with its head toward the trunk surface and pupates. Pupation occurs in June–July during 20–35 days and the pupa growth up to 70–110 mm long. Females exit cradles a few days before males.
O. I. Ion wrote a satirical poem "Importunate insects" , dedicated to Andrey Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky
and Callipogon relictus, the longhorn beetle he described . Callipogon relictus is also depicted on the badge of the Ussuri Reserve.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of longhorn beetle
Longhorn beetle
The longhorn beetles are a cosmopolitan family of beetles, typically characterized by extremely long antennae, which are often as long as or longer than the beetle's body...
which is mostly found in the southern part of Russian Far East
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
, but also in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. It inhabits mixed and deciduous
Temperate deciduous forest
A temperate deciduous forest, more precisely termed temperate broadleaf forest or temperate broadleaved forest, is a biome found in North America, southern South America, Europe, and Asia. A temperate deciduous forest consists of trees that lose their leaves every year...
forests. The population of Callipogon relictus is decreasing due to deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
and uncontrolled collection, and therefore the species are listed in the Russian Red Book (category II).
The larvae of Callipogon relictus develop in the drying deciduous trees. The process takes 4 to 6 years, and the same tree can be populated by larvae several times a year. Larvae bring along spore
Spore
In biology, a spore is a reproductive structure that is adapted for dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoa. According to scientist Dr...
s of the fungus Pleurotus citrinopileatus
Pleurotus citrinopileatus
Pleurotus citrinopileatus, the golden oyster mushroom , is an edible gilled fungus. Native to eastern Russia, northern China, and Japan, the golden oyster mushroom is very closely related to P. cornucopiae of Europe, with some authors considering them to be at the rank of subspecies. In far...
, that contributes to degradation of the tree. With the length reaching up to 110 mm, Callipogon relictus is the largest beetle of Russia. Larvae of different longhorn beetles can coexist in the same tree, such as Callipogon relictus, Rosalia coelestis
Rosalia (genus)
Rosalia is a genus of longhorn beetles.-Species:* Rosalia alpina Rosalia longicorn* Rosalia batesi Harold, 1877* Rosalia coelestis Semenov, 1911* Rosalia funebris Motschulsky 1845 Banded Alder Borer...
, Leptura thoracica, Rhabdoclytus acutivittis, Anoplodera cyanea and several other species.
Taxonomy
The beetle is a relictRelict
A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.* In biology a relict is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas....
of the Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
period and the sole representative of the tropical genus Callipogon in the fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
of the Old World
Old World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
– other species of this genus inhabit Central
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
s. Callipogon relictus was described in 1898 by the Russian entomologist Andrey Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky
Andrey Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky
Andrey Petrovich Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky was a Russian entomologist specializing in beetles. He was the son of Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky.He entered the St. Petersburg University in 1885...
(who wrote his last name as Semyonov until 1906). He distinguished the new species from the other species of the genus by the following features:
- Extended rear part, that makes antennaeAntenna (biology)Antennae in biology have historically been paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. More recently, the term has also been applied to cilium structures present in most cell types of eukaryotes....
shorter relative to the body size, - Shorter and almost hairless upper jaws
- Edges of the prothorax are not jagged but bear spines,
- Eyes are closer together.
These features were later interpreted as a sign of higher evolutionary development of Callipogon relictus compared to other species of its genus.
Distribution
In Russia Callipogon relictus inhabits Amur OblastAmur Oblast
Amur Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , situated about east of Moscow on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers. It shares its border with the Sakha Republic in the north, Khabarovsk Krai and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the east, People's Republic of China in the south, and Zabaykalsky...
, to the south and south-east of the town Raychikhinsk
Raychikhinsk
Raychikhinsk is a town in Amur Oblast, Russia. 2002 population—24,498.-Geography:Raychikhinsk lies in the Zeya-Bureya basin in the Russian Far East, around 40 km from the Amur River and the border to China...
. It is also common in the Khingan and Norsk reserves, in the south of Khabarovsk Krai
Khabarovsk Krai
Khabarovsk Krai is a federal subject of Russia , located in the Russian Far East. It lies mostly in the basin of the lower Amur River, but also occupies a vast mountainous area along the coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk, an arm of the Pacific Ocean. The administrative center of the krai is the...
(south from Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk is the largest city and the administrative center of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some from the Chinese border. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, after Vladivostok. The city became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia...
city), Jewish Autonomous Oblast
Jewish Autonomous Oblast
The Jewish Autonomous Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated in the Russian Far East, bordering Khabarovsk Krai and Amur Oblast of Russia and Heilongjiang province of China. Its administrative center is the town of Birobidzhan....
and Primorsky Krai
Primorsky Krai
Primorsky Krai , informally known as Primorye , is a federal subject of Russia . Primorsky means "maritime" in Russian, hence the region is sometimes referred to as Maritime Province or Maritime Territory. Its administrative center is in the city of Vladivostok...
. The northernmost observation was reported near the village of Ekimchan in Amur Oblast. Outside Russia the beetle occurs in Northeast China
Northeast China
Northeast China, historically known in English as Manchuria, is a geographical region of China, consisting of the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The region is sometimes called the Three Northeast Provinces...
, North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
.
Adults
Developed body (imagoImago
In biology, the imago is the last stage of development of an insect, after the last ecdysis of an incomplete metamorphosis, or after emergence from the pupa where the metamorphosis is complete...
) is black, with brown elytra
Elytron
An elytron is a modified, hardened forewing of certain insect orders, notably beetles and a few of the true bugs ; in most true bugs, the forewings are instead called hemelytra, as only the basal half is thickened while the apex is membranous...
and brown-black feet; there are two pairs of bright spots of hair on pronotum. The size and shape of jaws and antennae
Antenna (biology)
Antennae in biology have historically been paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. More recently, the term has also been applied to cilium structures present in most cell types of eukaryotes....
varies among individuals. Antennae are dotted and rather long. Their first segment is short and thickened. The third segment is extended and is longer than the fourth and fifth segments combined. The fourth segment is equal or slightly longer than the fifth, and the 11th segment is longer than the first. The lower parts of third to tenth segments have spines.
Mandible
Mandible
The mandible pronunciation or inferior maxillary bone forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place...
s are two-toothed and are very large in males, longer than the head; they are much shorter in females. The upper side of the jaw is covered with coarse, wrinkled punctation, and the lower jaw and lower lip have thick shaggy orange felt. Pronotum is convex, with narrow spines on its sides; the spines are longer in females than males. Scutellum is densely covered with yellowish hairs. Elytra
Elytron
An elytron is a modified, hardened forewing of certain insect orders, notably beetles and a few of the true bugs ; in most true bugs, the forewings are instead called hemelytra, as only the basal half is thickened while the apex is membranous...
are very long, spotted and rounded at their top; they are more shining in males than in females.
Larvae, egg and pupa
Larvae are white, with black mandibles; the front half of pronotum has a transverse red stripe, which can have four narrow grooves. Larval body is massive, yellowish-white and covered with sparse, fine yellowish hairs. The head is strongly retracted into prothorax, epistoma is well delimited. Frontal sutures are distinct, longitudinal edges are sharply defined. HypostomeHypostome
A hypostome , is a calcified harpoon-like structure near the mouth area of certain parasitic arthropods including ticks and mites , that allows them to anchor themselves firmly in place on a host mammal while sucking blood...
consists of two longitudinal sclerites, which are moved apart by the protruding regularly plate. Clypeus
Clypeus
The clypeus is one of the sclerites that makes up the "face" of an arthropod.In insects, the clypeus delimits the lower margin of the face, with the labrum articulated along the ventral margin of the clypeus. The mandibles bracket the labrum, but do not touch the clypeus. The dorsal margin of the...
is small, transverse, whitish. Pronotum covers much of the head. The shield of protonum is smooth at its front, and its back is densely covered with wrinkles. Thoracic legs are short, with long claws, covered with thick bristles.
The egg has an oval shape and is 6–7 mm long. It is pink in the early stage, then darkens and turns black. The chorion
Chorion
The chorion is one of the membranes that exist during pregnancy between the developing fetus and mother. It is formed by extraembryonic mesoderm and the two layers of trophoblast and surrounds the embryo and other membranes...
of the egg has deep, thick, slightly faceted cells. The gaps between the cells are smaller than the cells themselves.
Pupa has a sturdy body, antennae
Antenna (biology)
Antennae in biology have historically been paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. More recently, the term has also been applied to cilium structures present in most cell types of eukaryotes....
are pressed to the sides. A narrow longitudinal groove runs in the middle of pronotum. Abdomen
Abdomen
In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...
is broad, strongly narrowed to the top. Abdominal tergites
Tergum
A tergum is the dorsal portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the base and posterior edge is called the apex or margin. A given tergum may be divided into hardened plates or sclerites commonly referred to as tergites...
are protruding and covered in short thick spines.
Lifestyle
Callipogon relictus inhabits mixed and deciduousTemperate deciduous forest
A temperate deciduous forest, more precisely termed temperate broadleaf forest or temperate broadleaved forest, is a biome found in North America, southern South America, Europe, and Asia. A temperate deciduous forest consists of trees that lose their leaves every year...
forests. It is unknown whether it inhabits temperate coniferous forests, but the beetles were sometimes found in coniferous plantations. Larva feeds on rotten wood, and the adults drink juice, which protrudes from the trunks of linden
Tilia
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...
, elm and other trees. In captivity, one female could drink up to 0.5 milliliters of sugar syrup at once. Adults are active during the day; in the night they fly to the light sources. During the day, females fly more than males and therefore are encountered more frequently.
Larvae develop in such trees as Japanese elm
Japanese Elm
Ulmus davidiana var. japonica, the Japanese Elm, is one of the larger and more graceful Asiatic elms, endemic to much of continental north-east Asia and Japan.-Description:...
, Manchurian Ash, Tilia amurensis and Populus maximowiczii; they rarely occupy Mongolian oak
Quercus mongolica
Quercus mongolica, commonly known as Mongolian Oak, is a species of oak native to Japan, southern Kuriles, Sakhalin, Manchuria, Korea, eastern Mongolia, and eastern Siberia. The species can grow to be 30 m tall....
, sawtooth oak , Siberian elm, Japanese elm, Betula costata, Carpinus laxiflora and Manchurian maple
Acer mandshuricum
Acer mandshuricum , is a species of maple native to China , Korea and Russia ....
.
Entomopathogenic fungus
Entomopathogenic fungus
An entomopathogenic fungus is a fungus that can act as a parasite of insects and kills or seriously disables them.-Typical life cycle:These fungi usually attach to the external body surface of insects in the form of microscopic spores...
of the form Metarhizium anisopliae
Metarhizium anisopliae
Metarhizium anisopliae, formerly known as Entomophthora anisopliae , is a fungus that grows naturally in soils throughout the world and causes disease in various insects by acting as a parasite. Ilya I. Mechnikov named it after the insect species it was originally isolated from: the beetle...
(Clavicipitaceae
Clavicipitaceae
Clavicipitaceae is a family of fungi within the order Hypocreales. It consists of 43 genera, and 321 species.-Phylogeny:Molecular phylogenetic analysis of multigene DNA sequence data indicates that the taxon, Clavicipitaceae, is paraphyletic, and consists of three well-defined clades, at least one...
family) is deadly for a variety of insects, including the adult Callipogon relictus.
Reproduction
Females reach a length of 58–85 mm, and the males are 60–110 mm long. Females emit a special secretionSecretion
Secretion is the process of elaborating, releasing, and oozing chemicals, or a secreted chemical substance from a cell or gland. In contrast to excretion, the substance may have a certain function, rather than being a waste product...
to attract a partner. Mating
Mating
In biology, mating is the pairing of opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms for copulation. In social animals, it also includes the raising of their offspring. Copulation is the union of the sex organs of two sexually reproducing animals for insemination and subsequent internal fertilization...
occurs on the tree which serves as a feeding ground for larvae, below the place where the female will lay eggs; copulation lasts up to an hour. After mating the male does not leave female. Instead, he places front legs on the elytra of the female and they together climb the tree up to where the female will lay eggs
Oviparity
Oviparous animals are animals that lay eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, reptiles, all birds, the monotremes, and most insects, some molluscs and arachnids....
. Eggs are laid by one or in groups on the bark of trees with a trunk diameter of 30–100 cm. Over a lifetime (adult beetles live up to a month), a female can produce up to 28 eggs. After the female has laid eggs, the couple crawls down tree and dies on the ground.
Newborn larvae dig under the bark making corridors up to 40 cm long and 2 cm wide. They then delve into wood to a depth of 5 to 30 cm creating a network of tunnels there. One tree is re-populated several times and therefore usually contains larvae of different ages; only completely dried out trees are suitable for larva development. If a dry tree branch breaks from the tree with the larvae inside, the larvae stays inside the branch, but produces smaller adults than usual. Larvae live through 4–6 winters. After the last overwintering, they make large cradles (100–150 mm) oriented perpendicular to the trunk, separated from the tree surface by about 2 cm. Then the larva turns in the cradle with its head toward the trunk surface and pupates. Pupation occurs in June–July during 20–35 days and the pupa growth up to 70–110 mm long. Females exit cradles a few days before males.
In popular culture
In 1911–1913, the Russian entomologistEntomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
O. I. Ion wrote a satirical poem "Importunate insects" , dedicated to Andrey Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky
Andrey Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky
Andrey Petrovich Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky was a Russian entomologist specializing in beetles. He was the son of Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky.He entered the St. Petersburg University in 1885...
and Callipogon relictus, the longhorn beetle he described . Callipogon relictus is also depicted on the badge of the Ussuri Reserve.