![]() ![]() You can read the results here in PDF form. The team's work appears in the current issue of the journal Florida Entomologist. The scientists also cataloged the sound prints and compared them with the larvae of other species of horned beetles in the region - an important step toward developing an early warning system for the coconut rhinoceros beetles. In the field, the team also recorded larval sounds, but they were far more random in volume and length. Using mature beetles in the lab, the team gathered sound prints showing that the critters' chirps come in distinct, easy to identify patterns, interspersed with other background sounds they or their larvae make. If left unchecked, the beetles leave behind a tall, bald, very dead palm trunk. Considered the strongest animals in the world, male rhinoceros beetles compete for females by attempting to remove their opponents from trees and shoots and throw them onto the ground. The bugs chomp on the young tissue in the crowns as a way to get access to sap, their ultimate gastronomical goal. They attack the palms at their tops, or crowns, where the fronds sprout and grow. Mankin and his colleagues explain that it's tough to detect these bugs in live trees. With the bugs, the spectra of chirping, or stridulating, may become an early tip-off: You've got bugs in your trees and they are hostiles. Sonar operators can identify friend or foe from the acoustic spectra of things as seemingly subtle as the sounds another ship's or sub's propellers make as they churn up the water. The ultimate goal is to try to provide locals with a way of detecting these hard-to spot bugs before they have a chance to kill off coconut trees. Mankin, an entomologist with the US Department of Agriculture, and colleagues have just published the results of an experiment to capture sound prints of the noises the bugs make as they munch, mate, and try to ward off competitors. If bug scientist Richard Mankin's work is any indication, that chirping could help knock the bug of its perch on the list of coconut-palm pests.ĭr. ![]() In other places, like Guam, palms are the dominant tree in local forests. People grow the trees both as valuable agricultural crops for the coconut's meat, milk, and oil, or as (expensive) ornamental plants landscapers use to grace the grounds of tourist resorts. That would be spots like southern Asia, the South Pacific, and in parts of Africa. It turns out that the beetle is a serious pest in places where coconut palms flourish. Like the grasshopper, the coconut rhino beetle rubs body parts together in its own unique rhythmic way. Rhinoceros beetles have specific males and females, which creates its offspring through intercourse in the course of drizzling. Free pictures to download and use in your next project. During the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth, let us pause consider a potential application for one of his decidedly less-publicized scientific observations: Oryctes rhinoceros - alias, the coconut rhinoceros beetle - chirps. 83 Free photos of Rhinoceros Beetles Related Images: rhinoceros beetle beetle insect riesenkaefer tropical beetles scarab animal nature horn male Find your perfect rhinoceros beetles image.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |