File: <canthari.htm> [For teaching purposes only; do not review, quote or
abstract] Terminology <Principal
Natural Enemy Groups>
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COLEOPTERA, Cantharidae Please refer also to the
following website for further details: These are the "soldier beetles," which
are primarily predaceous. However,
some species are phytophagous. Adults
of many species of Cantharis and Podabrus feed extensively on
aphids, and the larvae of C. rustica Fall. are known to feed on
grasshopper eggs and larvae of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. Larvae of Chauliognathus marginalis
often enter the burrows of Heliothis obsoleta F. in corn to
destroy them, and C. pennsylvanicus Deg. destroys many adult Diabrotica
late in the season when they are inactive.
The latter was noted by C. V. Riley to be predaceous in the egg masses
of locusts (cited by Clausen 1940).
Although adults and larvae are mainly predaceous, they also may feed
on a wide array of plant materials, including plants seeds, roots, etc. Eggs are laid in masses in the soil or beneath
various objects and hatch in about one week.
The newly hatched larvae of some species are embryonic in form, having
their appendages weakly developed.
Such larvae have been called "prolarvae." The intestine is filled with yolk, which
serves as food until the first molt.
Pupation occurs in cells in soil. There are 1-2 generations per year, and they
overwinter in the advanced larval stage in sheltered spots. Adult beetles are found mainly during
early summer. Cantharis rufa
var. lituratus Fall, is an omnivorous feeder, but at times it derives
the bulk of its food from syrphid larvae, Platycheirus albumanus
F., which enters the soil for hibernation and pupation (Payne 1916). Larvae feed readily on seeds of cereal
crops but vegetables are only incidentally attacked. References: Please refer
to <biology.ref.htm>, [Additional
references may be found at: MELVYL
Library ] |