Predaceous diving beetles - Cybister lateralimarginalis (De Geer,1774) - Cyprus

Family: Dytiscidae
Cybister lateralimarginalis is a species of beetle native to the Palearctic (including Europe), the Near East and North Africa.
There are approximately 80 species in the genus.

Cybister ('kybistētēr' = diver, tumbler), is a genus of beetle in family Dytiscidae. They are found in much of the world, including all continents except Antarctica. As of 2021 there are 96 species and 9 additional subspecies among four subgenera in the genus.

Description

Adult Cybister have broad hind legs with unequal tarsal claws (the inner claw being smaller and sometimes absent) and a fringe on the outer margin of the tarsus. They range in length from 13 mm (C. parvus from Brazil) to 43 mm (C. bimaculatus from the Afrotropics). Adult males of the North American species have several ridges on the coxae of the hind legs, forming a stridulatory device.

Larvae have a frontal tooth on the head and lack cerci. North American species can grow up to 80 mm long.

Ecology

Cybister live in lentic (still fresh water) habitats that have vegetation.

Like other diving beetles, Cybister are predatory. Larvae of C. japonicus prey on insects (mainly Odonata nymphs and the backswimmer Notonecta triguttata) in their first two instars, while third-instar larvae prey on vertebrates (tadpoles and fish). Larvae of C. rugosus feed on both invertebrates and vertebrates in all instars. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Kotsiatis, 20/8/2014  by George Konstantinou

Asparagus beetle - Crioceris macilenta simoni (Weise,1881) - Cyprus

Crioceris or asparagus beetle is a genus of the family Chrysomelidae of beetles. The name is neo Latin from Greek κριός, ram and κέρας, horn.

Photos Nicosia, 29/3/2015  by George Konstantinou

Asparagus beetle - Crioceris bicruciata (Sahlberg,1823) - Cyprus

Crioceris or asparagus beetle is a genus of the family Chrysomelidae of beetles. The name is neo Latin from Greek κριός, ram and κέρας, horn.
Photos Nicosia, 29/3/2015  by George Konstantinou

Coniocleonus excoriatus (Gyllenhal 1834) - Cyprus

Family Curculionidae

Coniocleonus is a genus of beetles belonging to the family Curculionidae.

The genus was first described by Motschulsky in 1860.

The species of this genus are found in Europe

Photos Nicosia, 10/5/2015  by George Konstantinou

Rosemary beetle = Chrysolina americana (Linnaeus,1758) - Cyprus

See akso

All about Cyprus - Όλα για την Κύπρο

Chrysolina americana, common name rosemary beetle, is a species of beetles belonging to the family Chrysomelidae.

Chrysolina americana can reach a length of 5–8 millimetres (0.20–0.31 in). They have colourful elytra with metallic green and purple longitudinal stripes. The wings are quite short, so these beetles can not fly.

This species feeds on various aromatic Lamiaceae, mainly on rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) (hence the common name), lavender (Lavandula) and thyme (Thymus).

In the Mediterranean region females lay their eggs in late summer on the leaves of the host plants. The larvae show whitish to blackish bands. Larval development continues during the winter months. The pupal stage lasts about three weeks. The imago is released in the spring.

Despite the species name americana, this leaf beetle is native and common to eastern Europe and the Mediterranean sub-region.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Nicosia, 28/3/2015  by George Konstantinou

Cartallum ebulinum (Linné,1767) - Cyprus

Family, Cerambycidae

Photos Agios Sozomenos, 8/4/2015  by George Konstantinou

 

Calocoris nemoralis (Fabricius,1787) - Cyprus

Calocoris nemoralis is a species of true bugs belonging to the family Miridae or jumping tree bugs, subfamily Mirinae. It is found in most Southern Europe. The species are red coloured with black dots on their wings.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Nicosia, 7/4/2015  by George Konstantinou

Bostrichus capucinus L (Linnaeus,1758) - Cyprus

Family Bostrichidae

Bostrichus is a genus of beetle found in the Palearctic (including Europe), the Near East, and North Africa.
The only member of the family's nominate genus, common on hardwoods.

Photos Agios Sozomenos, 8/4/2015  by George Konstantinou

Yellow starthistle bud weevil. - Bangasternus orientalis (Capiomont,1873) - Cyprus

Bangasternus orientalis is a species of true weevil known as the yellow starthistle bud weevil. It is used as an agent of biological pest control against the noxious weed yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis).

The adult weevil is brown with a thin coat of light mottled hairs. It is about 6 millimeters long. The female lays up to 470 eggs near the flower heads of yellow starthistle and glues them with a dark-colored mucilage. When the larva emerges from its egg, it tunnels up into the flower head, where it consumes the flower parts and developing seeds. It then constructs a sort of cocoon from the remnants of the flower and seed parts and pupates there. Most of the damage to the plant is done by the larva, which destroys 50-60% of the seeds in a given flower head. It is host-specific, attacking only yellow starthistle and sometimes purple starthistle (C. calcitrapa); it does not attack any native plants.

This weevil is native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean. It was first released as a biocontrol agent in the United States in 1985. It is now established throughout the western United States, wherever yellow starthistle is found. It helps prevent the spread of the weed, but it is not as common or effective as other yellow starthistle biocontrol agents.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Nicosia, 7/4/2015  by George Konstantinou

Carpet beetles - Anthrenus delicatus (Kiesenwetter,1851) - Cyprus

Anthrenus is a genus of beetles in the family Dermestidae, the skin beetles. One of several genera of carpet beetles, Anthrenus was historically placed in a subfamily Anthreninae, though presently included in the Megatominae. The genus Neoanthrenus is closely related.

Anthrenus carpet beetles are small beetles a few millimetres long with a rather rounded shape. Their antennae bear small clubs at the end, which are plumper in males than in females. Many have a delicate and rather pretty pattern, with a dark body covered in colorful scales of various brown, tan, red, whitish and grey hues. These scales rub off easily, and old individuals are often partially devoid of them, showing the shining black elytra. A considerable number of subspecies and varieties have been named, but it is questionable whether these are all valid or simply refer to such age-related differences. The massive number of species has been divided into several subgenera, but these are not too firmly established. The small subgenus Helocerus for example is sometimes entirely included inFlorilinus. Also, new species are being described every now and then.

These beetles range essentially all over the world; they have even colonized some remote oceanic islands. Most species are harmless pollen-eaters, with the long-haired larvae feeding on a wide range on dead animal or plant matter. This makes them important decomposers, which clean up decaying organisms. Some, however, most notoriously the museum beetle (A. museorum), are significant pests, infesting stored goods and especially biological specimens in museum collections. These species have caused considerable damage to biology by destroying valuable type specimens.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Nicosia, 7/4/2015  by George Konstantinou

Snail hunter - Ablattaria arenaria (Kraatz, 1876) - Cyprus

Family Silphidae

Ablattaria arenaria, the snail hunter, is a beetle in the carrion beetle family Silphidae which preys on snails. It is native to the eastern Mediterranean. Adults become active in the spring, and the activity's start time is influenced by relative humidity

Photos Geri, 31/1/2015  by George Konstantinou

The larva in the picture belongs to the coleoptera species, Ablattaria arenaria (Kraatz 1876) of the family Silphidae.The insect parasites on snails and its larvae as well as the adult insects feed on them

Black Sorrow Cicada - Cicadatra atra (Olivier, 1790) - Small-bodied annual cicada - Cyprus

 Family Cicadidae
Cicadatra is a genus of European and Asian cicadas; it was erected by Kolenati in 1857 and is typical of the tribe Cicadatrini.

Distribution 

France incl. Corsica; Spain; Italy incl. Calabria, Sicily; Cyprus; Albania; Greece; Georgia; former Southern U.S.S.R.; Macedonia,; Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia; Czechoslovakia; Turkey; Iran (Duffels and Laan 1985; Mozaffarian and Sanborn 2010, Onder et al. 2011 etc.).

Photos Geri, 30/7/2015  by George Konstantinou

Myrmeleon hyalinus (Olivier,1811) - Cyprus

Myrmeleon is an ant-lion genus in the family Myrmeleontidae. Species in the genus feeds on ants and some are themselves prey for the dune cricket Schizodactylus inexpectatus.
Photos Geri, by George Konstantinou

Creoleon plumbeus (Olivier 1811) - Cyprus

 Family. Myrmeleontidae.

Photos Geri, 5/10/2014  by George Konstantinou

Creoleon is a genus of antlions (neuropteran insects in the family Myrmeleontidae) in the subfamily Myrmeleontinae. It is an extant genus but there is at least one fossil species.

Rhytideres (Rhytideres) plicatus (Olivier 1790) - Cyprus

Family, Curculionidae

Photos Geri, 29/11/2014  by George Konstantinou

The white butterfly parasite - Αpanteles glomeratus - Cyprus

Αpanteles glomeratus, the white butterfly parasite, is a small parasitic wasp species belonging to family Braconidae.
The adults can reach a length of 3–7 millimetres (0.12–0.28 in). This small braconid wasp is black, with two pairs of wings. It can parasitize a wide range of Pieris butterfly species as host, but Pieris brassicae and Pieris rapae are the main hosts. The adults feed on nectar
After hatching from the pupae, females mate almost immediately and begin laying eggs. The eggs are laid in the larvae of caterpillars, where the C. glomerata larvae develop; multiple eggs numbering between 16-52 are deposited in each caterpillar. After 15 to 20 days the larvae emerge, killing the parasitised caterpillar. These newly emerged larvae spin cocoons in a cluster on or nearby the host caterpillar; after 7 to 10 days the imago adult wasps hatch from these cocoons. Overall it takes between 22 and 30 days for an egg to develop to full adulthood
This species is present in most of Europe, in the Afrotropic ecozone, the Australasian ecozone, the Nearctic ecozone and the Neotropical ecozone.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



 Tα κουκούλια είναι (νύμφες)του υμενόπτερου Αpanteles glomeratus (μικρές σφήκες) που παρασιτεί στις κάμπιες. τα σκουλήκια του υμενόπτερου αφού παρασίτησαν στο εσωτερικό της κάμπιας βγήκαν έξω και σχημάτισαν κουκκούλια. Η κάμπια είναι τελειωμένη. Γίνονται ώριμα έντομα περιπου σε 10 μερες. Το μικρό αυτό υμενόπτερο γεννά μεγάλο αριθμό αυγών στο σώμα της κάμπιας. Μεγάλος αριθμός από κάμπιες της πεταλούδας Pieris brassicae όπως αυτή στην εικόνα αλλά και κάμπιες άλλων πεταλλούδων πέφτουν θύματα αυτού του υμενόπτερου. Μέσα από τα κουκκούλια θα βγούν υμενόπτερα (μικρές σφήκες) που θα γεννήσουν και πάλι τα αυγά τους σε άλλες κάμπιες. 
Photos Orkonta, 3/5/2014  by George Konstantinou

Parasite on  Large white, Cabbage butterfly - Pieris brassicae (Linnaeus, 1758) - Cyprus