Date: August 2012
Place: Lahemaa,
Estonia
This little fellow with
antennae longer than its body exploring my hands is the
flat-faced longhorn beetle (Lamiinae) from the
Cerambycidae (Cipricornia) family within the
Coleoptera order of
insects. It came to me to see the amateur
beach ball match we had been playing at the summer camp in the North-Eastern
Estonia. As you see, I was quite happy about that surprise meeting.
The
longhorn beetles, or longicorns, as their name suggests, can be easily identified by the very long
antennae. Some representatives, for instance the male of the
timberman beetle (Acanthocinus aedilis), flaunt the
antennae, which are four or five times longer than their body. However, not all
longhorn beetles possess such distinguishing feature; some of them, like the
blackspotted pliers support beetle (Rhagium mordax) have the
antennae twice as short as their body length. In general,
Cerambycidae is a quite large (more than 17000 species) and cosmopolitan family. This is why there are still some controversial opinions about certain members of it.
But what is known for sure is that certain species of
longhorn beetles, for example
Parandra caspia, are serious
pests of forests and wooden objects: their
larvae feed on wood, causing extensive damage to living trees and lumber. Still, there are other
insects,
reptiles and
birds, who find the
beetles and their
larvae very tasty, in this way keeping their
population at the acceptable level. This is how the natural balance is maintained… and it is better not to disturb it.
