A Fuzzy, Flower-Loving Scarab Beetle - Observation of the Week, 1/31/23

Our Observation of the Week is this Pygopleurus koniae bumble bee scarab beetle, seen in Turkey by @ozgurkocak!

A geological engineer living in the Karaman province of Turkey, Özgür Koçak says he’s always been interested in nature, but witnessing a fifteen day painted lady butterfly migration in 2004 was a watershed moment for him. He began to collect butterflies (he also collects, coins, flowers, leaves, stamps, shells, and other objects) but stopped in 2007 when he bought his first digital camera (he still collects some other insects for closer examination). 

Due to economic opportunities and the intensity of business life, I can only work in and around the region where I live. Last year I finished my great work “Lepidoptera of Karaman” and I published it as an amateur naturalist.

Of course it’s not just butterflies that interest Özgür, and he saw Pygopleurus koniae beetle you see pictured here back in May of 2019, south of Karaman. 

The place where this beetle is most common is the Central Anatolia region. In other words, the city and its surroundings where I live. Sparsely wooded areas and above 1200 m. altitude. Finding them is not so difficult: if you're wearing red clothes, they'll land on you. The only problem is they are on the wing during a very short period - maybe 15-20 days. You must be in the right place at the right time to find them. While males rest on green-leaved plants or feed on yellow and red flowers, finding females is a little bit harder because they are generally on the ground.

Bumble bee scarab beetles (family Glaphyridae) are large, day-flying, fuzzy beetles with, as Özgür noted, a strong attraction to certain colored flowers. Larvae in this family “are free living in ground or sandy areas (riparian and coastal dunes) where immature stages feed on the rooths [sic] or on decaying leaf litter and detritus that is layered in the sand” (source). According to Özgür, Pygopleurus koniae was thought to be endemic to Turkey have recently been spotted in Iran.

Over the years, Özgür (above) has shared his photos on multiple platforms, becoming friends with many experts and he’s published descriptions of 12 new insect species with the help of those experts. 

He joined iNat in 2017 and says “I shared a few photos when I became a member.”

These photos did not receive much attention and I did not share any other photos. Then I received messages that the photos I shared were recognized and I increased my posts. When I saw that some experts were making publications based on iNaturalist data, I decided to transfer my entire photographic archive to iNaturalist.

Sharing something is good. I believe that sharing the data you produce with experts is both good and important in terms of science. I would be very happy if someone sees these uploads and uses them in their own work or if they sign a good work with the inferences they will get from these data.

(Photo of Özgür by Kürşat Tan. Some quotes have been lightly edited for clarity.)

- Özgür is working with @heteropteran on the Heteropteran Fauna of Karaman project.

- We often think of bees, butterflies, and moths when it comes to insect pollinators, but beetles may have been among the first insects to visit flowers.

- Check out other glaphyrids on iNat!

Publicado el 31 de enero de 2023 a las 11:23 PM por tiwane