Baltic J. Coleopterol. 15(1) 2015
ISSN 1407 - 8619
Results of using pheromone-baited traps for investigations of
Osmoderma barnabita Motschulsky, 1845 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae:
Cetoniinae) in Latvia
Uldis Valainis, Māris Nitcis, Kristīna Aksjuta, Arvīds Barševskis, Raimonds
Cibuļskis, Maksims Balalaikins, Sakine Serap Avgin
Valainis U., Nitcis M., Aksjuta K., Barševskis A., Cibuļskis R, Balalaikins M., Avgin S.S.
2015. Results of using pheromone-baited traps for investigations of Osmoderma barnabita
Motschulsky, 1845 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) in Latvia. Baltic J. Coleopterol.,
15(1): 37 – 45.
Osmoderma barnabita Motschulsky, 1845 is a threatened scarab beetle living in the hollows
of old deciduous trees. Beetles of the genus Osmoderma are known for their fruity odour,
which is released by males. Pheromone-baited traps were used for the first time for the
study of distribution of O. barnabita in Latvia and new data about the species distribution
were obtained. The capture-mark-recapture method was used to estimate dispersal ability
of O. barnabita. Our results suggest that maximum dispersal distance (2090 m) observed
in this study is the farthermost record from wild Osmoderma populations till now.
Key words: Osmoderma barnabita, pheromone-baited traps, dispersal distance, Latvia
Uldis Valainis, Māris Nitcis, Kristīna Aksjuta, Arvīds Barševskis, Raimonds Cibuļskis,
Maksims Balalaikins, Institute of Life Sciences and Technology, Daugavpils University,
Vienibas 13, Daugavpils, LV-5400, Latvia. E-mail: uldis.valainis@biology.lv,
maris.nitcis@biology.lv, kristina.aksjuta@biology.lv, arvids.barsevskis@du.lv,
raimonds.cibulskis@biology.lv, maksims.balalaikins@biology.lv;
Sakine Serap Avgin, Faculty of Education, Division of Science Education, and Faculty
of Art and Science, Department of Biology, Avşar Campus, 46100, Kahramanmaraş,
Turkey. E-mail: serapavgin@hotmail.com;
INTRODUCTION
Osmoderma barnabita (Motschulsky, 1845) is
one of the four European varieties of the
eremita species-group (Fig. 1). It was described
more than 160 years ago, but often was ignored
or considered as synonym of O. eremita
(Scopoli, 1763). Recently it was rediscovered
due to its morphological traits (Sparacio 2001)
and genome (Audisio et al. 2007). Numerous
specimens from different geographical parts of
Latvia have been used for DNA analysis. Due to
the geographical location of Latvia, molecular
analysis confirmed that Latvian population
belongs to O. barnabita (Audisio et al. 2007;
Telnov & Matrozis 2012).
37
Valainis U., Nitcis M., Aksjuta K., Barševskis A., Cibuļskis R, Balalaikins M., Avgin S.S.
Fig. 1. Adult female of Osmoderma barnabita on the oak stem (Photo: R. Cibuļskis)
This species is included in the category „Near
Threatened” in the IUCN European Red List of
Saproxylic Beetles (Alexander et al. 2010). This
species is restricted to decaying heartwood. It
is found only in large, old veteran trees of a
variety of broad-leaved species in both relatively
open old-growth woodland and traditional
cultural landscapes.
In the last 20 years, the number of known
localities of O. barnabita highly increased due
to many studies done in Latvia (Telnov 2005;
Telnov & Matrozis 2012). In Latvia, the main
host tree species of O. barnabita are Quercus
robur, Tilia cordata and Acer platanoides, but
sometimes also Fraxinus excelsior, Ulmus
glabra, U. laevis, Populus tremula etc. The
Fig. 2. The distribution of Osmoderma barnabita in different biotopes in Latvia
38
Results of using pheromone-baited traps for investigations of Osmoderma barnabita Motschulsky, 1845 in Latvia
Most of the former localities in Latvia were
identified by the presence of larval excrements
in the different biotopes. Several individuals
were collected using pitfall traps, window traps
or they were observed in their natural habitats
(Telnov 2005). The pheromone-baited traps in
the study of O. barnabita were used for the first
time in Latvia.
According to the previous results (Svensson et
al. 2009), the male-produced sex pheromone of
O. barnabita is identical to that of its European
congener O. eremita. Therefore, homemade
pheromone traps with O. eremita pheromone
(R)-(+)-gamma-decalactone were used in this
field study. The trap consists of a plastic funnel
and a container attached to its bottom by black
waterproof tape (Fig. 3). A cotton-wool tampon
moistened with pheromone was attached to the
inside surface of the funnel. Traps were placed
on hollow deciduous trees in certain or potential
species locations (Fig. 4). The bottom of the
trap was covered with moist humus and holes
were made to exclude accumulation of rainwater in the traps and to prevent individuals from
destruction.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The permit issued by the Latvian Nature
Protection Board was obtained. It allows the
species is distributed both in natural biotopes
and dendrological plantations where hollow
deciduous trees are available. Currently known
localities depending on the type of biotope are
illustrated in Fig. 2. Nearly 61 % of all known
locations are situated in specially protected
areas in Latvia (Telnov 2005; LIFE+ project
EREMITA MEADOWS unpublished data).
Fig. 3. The pheromone trap used in the study
(Photo: R. Cibuļskis)
Fig. 4. The pheromone trap on the hollow oak
in the nature reserve „Lubāna mitrājs” (Photo:
R. Cibuļskis)
39
Valainis U., Nitcis M., Aksjuta K., Barševskis A., Cibuļskis R, Balalaikins M., Avgin S.S.
Fig. 5. The location of the pheromone traps in Latvia
Fig. 6. The location of the pheromone traps in the nature reserve „Lubāna mitrājs”
40
Results of using pheromone-baited traps for investigations of Osmoderma barnabita Motschulsky, 1845 in Latvia
collection of invertebrates during field
research. The study was performed in 20112014. Traps were placed on 127 hollow
deciduous trees in various regions of Latvia
(Fig. 5). To clarify the time when the beetles’
flight season starts, we placed several control
traps in well-known localities in the nature park
„Daugavas loki” on the 10th June each year.
When first individuals emerged in the control
traps, we placed pheromone traps also in other
localities. Each year the traps were placed in
different localities. All collected individuals
were released after removal from traps.
In 2013, the field research about dispersal
ability of O. barnabita was performed. The
capture-mark-recapture method was used. This
study was done in the nature reserve „Lubāna
mitrājs”, in one of the largest Latvian
metapopulations. In total, 15 pheromone-baited
traps were placed in hollow deciduous trees
during this study (Fig. 6). 26 individuals were
marked and released (10 males and 16 females).
RESULTS
In total, 257 specimens of O. barnabita were
collected from pheromone traps during four
years. The earliest date when the activity period
of the imago started was June 14, but the latest
date when the activity period ended was August
7 (see Table 1).
During the dispersal ability experiment in 2013,
3 (2 females and 1 male) from 26 marked
specimens were recaptured in the second
sampling. One of the marked-recaptured
specimens flew a distance of 2090 m (see Fig.
7) that is the farthermost record from wild
Osmoderma populations till now. Two other
specimens were caught accordingly 131 m and
227 m from the place where they were released.
DISCUSSION
The comparison of studies on the dispersal of
species of the genus Osmoderma is shown in
Table 2. The maximum movement distance
observed previously in nature with radiotracking method was 1504 m (Chiari et al. 2013)
and 780 m using mark-recapture method
(Oleksa et. al. 2013). For O. eremita, such
comparative studies have been carried out using
tethered flight experiments with ‘‘flight mill’’
devices (Dubois et al. 2009, Dubois et al. 2010).
Despite the fact that the male of O. eremita
produces the pheromone (R)-(+)-gammadecalactone to attract conspecific females
(Larsson et al. 2003, Svensson et al. 2009,
Dubois et al. 2010), there is some evidence that
this pheromone is also attractive to other males
of the same species. Usually the number of
males that fall into the traps is insignificant, but
in our study males represented 40% of the total
collected specimens. It means that males at the
beginning of the imago activity period more
actively flew to the traps than females. Most of
the pheromone traps were placed at the
beginning of the flight season and removed from
Table 1. Capture data for O. barnabita per year (starting date – the date when the first adult was
captured in the field, ending date – the date when the last specimen was captured, captured specimens
– the number of specimens captured on the trees)
Year
2011
2012
2013
2014
Total
Starting
date
July 5
July 11
June 14
July 4
Ending
date
August 2
August 7
July 24
July 28
Captured
specimens
106
61
79
11
257
Males
43
27
28
5
103
Females
63
34
51
6
154
41
Valainis U., Nitcis M., Aksjuta K., Barševskis A., Cibuļskis R, Balalaikins M., Avgin S.S.
Fig. 7. Dispersal distances of recaptured specimens
the field when the first specimens were
collected.
42
The maximum cumulative flight distance
measured in the laboratory experiments was
2361 m, that is similar to the distance observed
Results of using pheromone-baited traps for investigations of Osmoderma barnabita Motschulsky, 1845 in Latvia
Table 2. Comparison of studies on the dispersal of Osmoderma genus species (Used
abbreviations: CMR = capture-mark-recapture method; RAD = radiotelemetry method;
TET = tethered flight method; F – female, M – male; “-“ = no data) (Table structure
according Chiari et al. 2013 (modified))
Svenson et
al., 2011
Sweden
Osmoderma
eremita
CMR+RAD
Dubois &
Vignon, 2008
France
Osmoderma
eremita
RAD
Dubois et
al., 2010
France
Osmoderm
a eremita
TET
Southern
Europe
Chiari et al.
2013.
Italy
Osmoderma
eremita
RAD
>1000
-
17
10
7
30
-
39
16
23
34
0
34
26
10
16
122
24
97
1
0
1
14
8
6
18
9
9
8
0
8
3
1
2
>500
-
680
680
2361
-
1504
299
1504
780
780
2090
2090
227
Northern Europe
Ranius &
Hedin et al.,
Hedin, 2001 2008
Sweden
Country Sweden
Osmoderma Osmoderma
Species
eremita
eremita
Method
CMR
RAD
No. of beetles
Total
839
65
39
M
26
F
No of dispersing beetles
8
8
Total
M
7
5
1
3
F
Maximum dispersal distance (m)
Total
190
180
190
M
70
180
F
Central Europe
Eastern Europe
Oleksa et.
al., 2013
Poland
Osmoderma
barnabita
CMR
Present
research
Latvia
Osmoderma
barnabita
CMR
Fig. 8. Localities of O. barnabita in Latvia (data from previous studies and our research)
43
Valainis U., Nitcis M., Aksjuta K., Barševskis A., Cibuļskis R, Balalaikins M., Avgin S.S.
in our study. However, laboratory results are not
directly comparable to results obtained in nature
because the laboratory experiments tend to
measure the physiological capacity for dispersal
and do not measure the same dispersal
parameters as measured in the field. Our results
suggest that several individuals of O. barnabita
can fly longer distances than previously
considered. However, similar studies (Chiari et.
al. 2013; Hedin et al. 2008; Ranius & Hedin
2001) show that most of the dispersing
individuals do not perform distances more than
250 m long. In case when the habitat become
unsuitable for species and mismatch its
ecological demands, the imago of this species
may disperse widely to find more suitable
habitats. However, a metapopulation needs a
sufficient amount of interacting populations for
its sustainable viability. O. barnabita
metapopulations in Latvia are irregularly
distributed and they are situated many
kilometres from each other (see Fig. 8). This
effects the exchange of genetic material
between metapopulations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Matti Landvik (Turku University,
Finland) for introduction of pheromone traps
which were used in this study. We are also very
grateful to Dr. Inese Kivleniece for improving
the English and Dr. Alexey Shavrin for helpful
comments. The research was supported by
European Union LIFE+ programme project
“Management of Fennoscandian wooded
meadows (6530*) and two priority beetle
species: planning, public participation,
innovation” (No. LIFE09/NAT/LV/000240).
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