Flat Red Bark Beetle

Ah, sunshine. A day without many clouds, a rarity during this last month. I looked forward to having a peek at the landscape, the late autumn meadows and wetlands illuminated instead of shadowed.

Previously, I'd noticed some peculiar lichen on several trees at the northeast corner of the Natural Lands. I went there to get a photo. Bushy lichens of the genus Ramalina have flat, strap-like branches that extend away from the bark on which it grows, in contrast to the flat, lobed, surface-hugging lichens.

In the woods, nearby, a trio of brown mushrooms provided dots of color to a blackened stump. At the base of a dead tree, a snapped and fallen trunk was dotted, warted with the bronze aethalia of Wolf's Milk slime mold. At the base of another dead tree, wedged behind a piece of loose bark, I discovered two Flat Red Bark Beetles.

These bright red beetles, the color of Chinese red lacquer and flat as fingernails, are predators of wood beetles and, most impressively, have been studied for their cold tolerance. By dehydrating itself and producing protein antifreeze, these beetles have survived temperatures of -150 C in the laboratory!

Posted on November 19, 2017 03:59 AM by