TYT.LThome / Insecta · vabzdžiai / Coleoptera · vabalai / Cantharidae · minkštavabaliai / Cantharis nigricans · minkštavabalis

ajaxloader

Cantharis nigricans · minkštavabalis

  • grey sailor beetle
  • Graugelber Weichkäfer
  • havusylkikuoriainen
  • gestreepte weekkever
  • omomiłek szarowłosy

Widespread and generally common throughout the Palaearctic region although it is absent from much of the Balkan Peninsula and most of the Mediterranean islands, and north to the UK and central provinces of Fennoscandia. Adults are diurnal and predatory, hunting out small insects on foliage and flowers but they also consume pollen and nectar. Mating occurs on flowers and foliage after a period of feeding, and females oviposit into the ground. Eggs develop quickly and larvae appear by late June. Larvae are terrestrial predators, they hunt mainly at night and spend the day under stones or among tussocks or moss and enter the ground to pupate.

  • 8-11mm
  • grey elytra (with short flat hairs)
  • orange pronotum (may also have dark markings in the centre)
  • paler rim around the pronotum
  • broad black bands at the tips of the hind femora