The prey species and kleptoparasites of Trichodes crabroniformis (Coleoptera, Cleridae) – an active predator on flower-visiting insects in Bulgaria

Abstract

Feeding of Trichodes crabroniformis (Fabricius, 1787) on insects from 10 families, belonging to orders Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and Hemiptera is documented under field conditions in Bulgaria. Cases of attacks on longhorn beetles of the species Echinocerus floralis (Pallas, 1773) clearly predominated, followed by those of the oedemerid beetles species Oedemera femorata (Scopoli, 1763). First concrete data on feeding of a member of the genus Trichodes Herbst on cantharidin-containing species of Oedemeridae are reported. The kleptoparasitic flies Desmometopa sordida (Fallén, 1820), D. microps Lamb, 1914 and Neophyllomyza acyglossa (Villeneuve, 1920) (Diptera, Milichiidae) are found to be attracted to individuals of E. floralis caught by the predator. The association of Milichiidae species with predatory Coleoptera, as well as with their coleopteran prey items is reported for the first time. This, previously unknown, food source for Milichiidae and the nature of the warning coloration in T. crabroniformis are also discussed.

Keywords

• Cleridae
• Milichiidae
• behaviour
• biology
• insect