Weevil-weevil. What does a giraffe beetle look like?

A unique insect is the weevil-giraffe - an unusual inhabitant of the earth, a celebrity in the animal world. The beetle got incredible popularity because of its unusual structure. Abnormally long neck and clumsy, fancifully bent paws, reminiscent of the structure of the legs of a spider, gave the insect an unusual look. Long-necked beetle with brightly colored elytra is like a fantastic alien creature.

This species of beetles was found in 2008. There is practically no information about it. The range of insects is quite small. However, scientists believe that the population is not endangered and is not on the verge of extinction. The natural enemies of the weevil-giraffe have not yet been found.

Appearance of the beetle weevil beetle

Let's describe how the giraffe weevil looks. The neck of beetles is so long that it is sometimes longer than the body of insects. True, this remark is true only for males. The neck of the female is shorter than two or three times. The length of the beetles grows to 2.5 centimeters.

Beetles are painted in contrasting shades. They have a body, legs and head black, and the elytra shine bright red. Thanks to such a battle paint, it's hard not to notice them. Especially when they leave the trees, crawl, rest and bask in the sun, getting out on the roadside or open spaces.

origin of name

In the realm of mammals there is one long-necked animal - a giraffe. By analogy with it (because of its colossally long neck), the beetle received its original name - the giraffe weevil. In the rest there is nothing in common between a giraffe and an insect. Nature just once again surprised humanity by the skill of creating incredible things. In Latin its name sounds like Trachelophorus giraffa .

Distribution area

The homeland of the beetle is the island of Madagascar, located near the eastern coast of Africa. The insect dwells in trees, in dense forests, which have tightened the national park of Ranomafan. The island is isolated from the mainland by oceanic waters, which prevent the spread of populations. This explains the appearance of unusual creatures only on its territory.

The giraffe beetle, apparently, like other Madagascar endemics, is not able to overcome the water obstacle, so it does not occur anywhere else in the world. Although there is evidence that a species of this beetle is found in New Zealand. However, the individuals living in Madagascar are much more beautiful and interesting.

Marriage period and reproduction

If a long neck is needed for giraffes to tear off leaves from trees, then bugs are needed for other purposes. For males, an elongated neck, in fact, a combat weapon and a convenient tool for creating a "cradle" for a single calf.

In the mating season, the male, as expected, fights with rivals for the right to own the female. The lady of the heart is patiently waiting for the end of the battle between the applicants. She will lead the offspring with the winner of the battle. Weevil-giraffe never fights to death.

The male carefully folds the leaflet, giving it the shape of a keg. In this nest-tube the female lays only one egg. Similar keg-cradles are made by other species of beetles belonging to the family Attelabidae. The peculiarity of forming small houses for the offspring served as the name for the family - the pipe trenches. Next, let's talk more about classification.

Family of Tube Drills

Insect weevil-giraffe belongs to the family of pipe-finishers. Based on the name of the beetle, it would be logical to include it in the family of weevils. However, it differs from representatives of this family.

And some confusion in the name and classification arose due to the fact that the weevils are outwardly similar to the individual tubulars. The weevil-giraffe differs from individuals from the family Curculionidae in the form of a head, pronotum, paws and mustache.

Features of food

In food weevil-giraffe is very picky and fastidious. It can be called a gourmet. Individuals prefer to eat leaves of two small trees - Dichaetanthera cordifolia and Dichaetanthera arborea , on which they spend most of the time.

Leaves of these same trees, they use to build a house where the females lay eggs. At first, it is the tube-cradle that provides nutrition to the offspring. Samochki roll keg-houses, so that the cubs can get food.