Osmoderma eremita is one of the bigger beetle species in Europe. Its size is between 2 and 4 cm big. There are populations in Germany as well. It is considered to be a very rare species. An interesting feature in this species is that they smell like Russian leather, sometimes one can even smell them out of the trees that they inhabit. It is very funny to know that there are beetles around, without seeing any. The beetles and larvae live in tree hollows. This might be the main reason, why they are very rare and their population is decreasing due to official sources.
It is a problem that they inhabit only hollow trees and nothing else, so once the tree is cut down, the population of that tree vanishes. Another problem is that these beetles are really slow and so not seem to fly well and far, even though I heard that they fly on warm evenings. When observing imagines to me it seemed that these beetles stay most of the time in the hollow trees and only come out when it is really hot to take a sunbath (more likely to attract females, maybe ?) , but even then they do not really move far out off the tree.
I found them the summer of 2004 for the first time in my life in old Tilia spec. trees that are growing in an alley in Saxony in Germany. I was only observing them, as it is a protected and really rare species and really enjoyed taking pictures and smell these animals. I know there is a very good homepage, where you can learn more and more details about this interesting beetle. It is: http://www.eremit.net
One thing thatI do not understand about governmental protection of species, is that they never start any breeding programmes, which would make it easier to repopulate areas. And of course, nobody is there to check for the beetles, when the old trees are cut in order to protect people walking under them. The area where I found Osmoderma is under no protection at all. This means as soon as authorities decide it is too risky for people to walk under those trees, the trees will be cut. Goodbye Osmoderma eremita.
Osmoderma is a very specialised genus that needs hollow trees for their development. They are not very mobile, I doubt that they are able to migrate to new and suitable habitats, that are not very near to known populations. This species would be really suited for breeding programs and resettlement to suitable trees, even though it might be hard to find any old and hollow trees.
I have bred the closely related Osmoderma opicum from Japan and found them a rather easy to breed species. The larvae develop in a wood-based substrate, which needs to contain some high-decay wood pieces. I feel that Osmoderma larvae behave similar to those of Cheirotonus – no surprise as they live in similar ecological niches.
If you are from Europe and find Osmoderma eremita, please make sure to let your authorities know so that species will get the protection it deserves.
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