Beetle

. By one estimate, more than 10,000 trees of world-class quality can be seen in a single day - probably 300 times more trees than in any other museum. There is a thriving industry in the collection of wild caught species for amateur and professional collectors. In Omiya Bonsai Village, more than a half dozen large bonsai nurseries allow visitors to view trees most days during growing season. See the list of list of notable coleopterists for more information. Visitors to Tokyo are encouraged to take a short train ride to the northwest to the city of Omiya, where an artisanal village of bonsai growers and stylists grow and maintain their stock. The study of beetles is called coleopterology, and its practitioners coleopterists. Weyerhaeuser Company has a large collection of bonsai trees in Federal Way, Washington.

"Le Scarabée Sacré", the opening essay in Jean-Henri Fabre's famous Souvenirs Entomologiques, deals with the insect. Paul, MN. The amulets were often inscribed with a spell from the Book of the Dead which entreated the heart to, "do not stand as a witness against me.". The Arboretum in Des Moines, Iowa has a modest bonsai collection, as does the Como Park greenhouse in St. During and following the New Kingdom, scarab amulets were often placed over the heart of the mummified deceased. The Montreal Botanical Garden has an amazing indoor bonsai facility that can be viewed year round. In many artifacts, the scarab is depicted pushing the sun along its course in the sky. The National Arboretum in Washington, DC has an impressive collection of trees, some of them gifts from the Nation of Japan.

Many thousands of amulets and stamp seals have been excavated that depict the scarab. Bonsai collections are open for public viewing in many cities around the world. The scarab beetle god Khepri was believed to push the setting sun along the sky in the same manner as the beetle with his ball of dung. There is a legal aspect to removing trees, so the enthusiast should take all steps necessary to ensure permission from the owner of the land before attempting to harvest Yamadori. The ray-like antennae on the beetle's head and its practice of dung-rolling caused the beetle to also carry solar symbolism. Trees with a shallow or partially exposed root system are ideal candidates for extraction. Therefore they were worshipped as "Khepri", which means "he who came forth." This creative aspect of the scarab was associated with the creator god Atum. Trees that are to be collected must be analyzed with careful scrutiny to determine whether they may be removed safely.

It seemed to the ancient Egyptians that young scarab beetles emerged spontaneously from the burrow where they were born. Very great care must be taken when collecting Yamadori, as it is very easy to damage the tree's root system (often irreparably) by digging it up. The scarab beetles (family Scarabaeidae) are coprophagous beetles. Known among enthusiasts as Yamadori, These specimens are highly prized and are often already many hundreds of years old when they are harvested from nature. Some farmers introduce beetle banks to foster and provide cover for beneficial beetles. Other times, trees collected from the wild are cultivated as bonsai. There are several serious agricultural and household pests represented by the order, these include :. While Japanese varieties of juniper and maple are usually seen as the most suited for traditional styles, other North American, Korean and Siberian species of various trees will also work quite well and are especially suited for colder climates, while some south Asian, south American and African species lend themselves well to tropical cultivation or growth in warmer climates.

See the article subgroups of the order Coleoptera for a complete list of families. Most nursery stock trees can be grown as bonsai with varying degrees of success. The extraordinary number of beetle species poses special problems for classification, with some families consisting of thousands of species and needing further division into subfamilies and tribes. This top layer of glued-on gravel should be immediately removed once the bonsai is purchased, and the plant should be repotted in a good bonsai soil such as akadama. Their phylogenetic relationship is uncertain, with the most popular hypothesis being that Polyphaga and Myxophaga are most closely related, with Adephaga an outgroup to those two, and Archostemata an outgroup to the other three. Some "mallsai" can be resuscitated with proper care and immediate repotting, although this is reportedly rare. These suborders diverged in the Permian and Triassic. Due to the conditions under which they are transported and sold, they are often inadequately watered and are kept in poor soil, usually a clump of sphagnum moss or the aforementioned clay with a layer of gravel glued to the top, which leaves them susceptible to both drying and fungal infections.

The four extant suborders of beetle are these:. Very little if any shaping is done on mallsai, and often the foliage is crudely pruned with little finesse to resemble a tree. Beetles entered the fossil record during the Lower Permian, about 265 million years ago. This clay is very detrimental to the bonsai, as it literally suffocates the roots and promotes root-rot. Many species, including lady beetles and blister beetles, can secrete poisonous substances to make them unpalatable. Often these bonsai are mass produced and are rooted in thick clay from a field in China. Large ground beetles by contrast will tend to go on the attack, using their strong mandibles to forcibly persuade a predator to seek out easier prey. Inexpensive bonsai trees often sold in chain stores and gift shops are derisively referred to as "mallsai" by experienced bonsai growers, and are usually weak or dead trees by the time they are sold.

A number of longhorn beetles (family Cerambycidae) bear a striking resemblance to wasps, thus benefitting from a measure of protection. In-ground cold frames, unheated garages, porches, and the like are commonly used by hobbyists and artists. These include the leaf beetles (family Chysomelidae) that have a green colouring very similair to their habitat on tree leaves. These outdoor trees must be protected from wind and drying effects in the winter, but also must be kept cold and in a generally darker environment. Many employ simple camoflage to avoid being spotted by predators. Certain trees, particularly tropicals, will flourish if kept indoors; those of similar species to common houseplants like ficus and umbrella plant (schefflera) will thrive indoors, while those based on outdoor shrubs or trees (most confiers, maples, larch, etc) require a cold dormant period in which to store energy for spring growth. Beetles and larvae have evolved to employ a variety of different strategies for avoiding being eaten. In fact, this is one of the best ways to kill them.

Generally the number of eggs laid is an indicator of the level of parental care subsequently employed, as they are inversely proportional. Contrary to popular conception, most bonsai are not indoor plants, and if kept indoors will most likely die. There are other notable ways of caring for the eggs and young, such as those employed by leaf rollers, who bite sections of leaf causing it to curl inwards and then lay the eggs, thus protected, inside. Others rely on various vegetable fertilizers to encourage growth early in the season, although the long-term efficacy of this approach has not been conclusively demonstrated. It ranges from the simple laying of eggs under a leaf to scarab beetles, which construct impressive underground structures complete with a supply of dung to house and feed their young. Various fertilizers exist for bonsai, and some artists maintain a very strict feeding schedule, reducing nitrogen content later in the season to discourage new growth. As befitting such a large order, the parental care between species varies widely. Some artists omit the organic component entirely, preferring to fertilize manually, in such cases a soil such as akadama is used.

During pairing sperm cells are transferred to the female to fertilise the egg. There are various thoughts as to proportion of these elements; some artists work with a standard 1:1:1 ratio for all trees, others vary depending on tree species, age, or climate. Pairing is generally short but in some cases will last for several hours. Bonsai soil is primarily a loose, fast-draining mix of components, usually a mixture of coarse sand or gravel, fired clay pellets, and an organic component such as peat or compost. Many beetles are territorial and will fiercly defend their small patch of territory from intruding males. There are nearly as many opinions about soil mixes and fertilization as there are bonsai artists. Conflict can play a part in the mating rituals for example in species such as burying beetles (genus Nicrophorus) where localised conflicts between males and females rage until only one of each is left, thus ensuring reproduction by the strongest and fittest. This prevents them from becoming pot-bound and encourages the growth of new feeder roots, allowing the tree to absorb moisture more efficiently.

Smell is thought to play significant importance in the location of a mate. Bonsai are generally repotted and root-pruned every few years. Beetles may display some extremely intricate behaviour when mating. Various evergreens do not display outward signs of drying and damage until long after the damage is done, and may even appear green and healthy despite having an entirely dead root system. Adults have an extremely variable lifespan, again, from weeks to years. Allowing the bonsai soil to dry out completely is one of the fastest ways to kill the plant, for even a little bit of time in completely dry soil will cause massive damage that is very often fatal. The larval period of beetles varies between species but can be as long as several years. Sun, heat and wind exposure can quickly dry a bonsai tree to the point of drought, and most trees must be afforded some protection from these elements.

Predaceous diving beetles (family Dytiscidae) may be the most common example, they employ a technique of retaining air when diving between the abdomen and the elytra. Heavy watering does however make the trees more susceptible to fungal infections and "root rot". Various techniques are employed by many species for retaining both air and water supplies. Some species can handle and even prefer short dry periods, while others require near-constant moisture. The beneficial impact to the general ecology of these two activities is huge. Consequently, proper watering of bonsai is practically an art in itself. Decaying organic matter is a primary diet for many species, this can range from dung which is consumed by coprophagous species such as the scarab beetles (family Scarabaeidae), to dead animals which are eaten by necrophagous species such as the carrion beetles (family Silphidae). The shallowness of bonsai containers affords roots little protection and certainly little water and nutrient reserve.

Ground beetles (family Carabidae) and rove beetles (family Staphylinidae) are entirely carnivorous and will catch and comsume small prey such as earthworms and snails. Because of their relative lack of protection from the elements, bonsai care can be quite difficult. Others are generalists, eating both plants and animals. Some species do not lignify strongly, or are already too stiff/brittle to be shaped and are not conducive to wiring, in which case shaping must be accomplished primarily through pruning. Some beetles are highly specialised in their diet; for example, the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) opts almost entirely to colonize plants of the potato family (Solanaceae). Copper or aluminium wire is wrapped around branches and trunks, holding the branch in place or shape until it eventually lignifies and maintains the desired shape (at which point the wire should be removed). There are few things that a beetle somewhere will not eat, even inorganic matter may be consumed. Most species suitable for bonsai can be shaped by wiring.

In some cases there are several transitory larvae stages and this is known as hypermetamorphosis; examples include the blister beetles (family Meloidae). Additionally, some pruning must be done seasonally, as most trees require a dormancy period and do not grow roots or leaves at that time; improper pruning can weaken or kill the tree. As with lepidoptera, beetle larvae pupate for a period, and from the pupa emerges a fully formed beetle or imago. Various methods must be employed, as each species of tree exhibits different budding behavior. Once the egg hatches the larvae tend to feed voraciously, whether out in the open such as with Ladybird larvae, or within plants such as with leaf beetle larvae. The small size of the tree and the dwarfing of foliage are maintained through a consistent regimen of pruning of both the leaves and the roots. The eggs of beetles are minute but may be brightly coloured, they are laid in clumps and there may be from several dozen to several thousand eggs laid by a single female. Shaping and dwarfing are accomplished through a few basic but exacting techniques.

The larva of a beetle is often called a grub and represents the principal feeding stage of the life-cycle. These are often small enough to be grown in thimble-sized pots, and due to their miniscule size require special care and adhere to different design conventions. Beetles are endopterygotes with complete metamorphosis. There are a number of specific techniques and styles associated with mame and shito sizes, the smallest bonsai. Although beetles have blood, it is not used for oxygen transference, although a heart is present. Additionally, bonsai are classed by size. Pumping movements of the body force the air through the system. The trees are often the same species and are styled accordingly; although group or forest bonsai tend to contain smaller trees (which would be classified as mame style bonsai if they were planted alone), larger trees may be used.

Oxygen is taken in via a tracheal system: this takes air in through a series of tubes along the body which is then taken into increasingly finer fibres. Typically the number of trees in a forest style display is fifty or less, though there is no formal limit to this number. Antennae can vary greatly and may be filiform, claviform, flabellate or genticulate. A group or forest bonsai display is, as the name suggests, a number of bonsai (typically an odd number if there are three or more trees) placed together in a pot. The dorsal appendage aids the beetle in stalking prey. Their style is inspired by the Chinese paintings of pine trees that grew in harsh climates, struggling to reach the light of the sun. The eyes are compound, and may display some remarkable adabtability, as in the case of the Whirligig beetles (family Gyrinidae), in which the eyes are split to allow a view both above and below the waterline. The literati style is usually characterized by a small number of branches typically placed higher up on a long, contorted trunk.

The bodies of beetles are divided into three sections, the head, the thorax, and the abdomen, and these in themselves may be composed of several further segments. The word literati is used in place of the Japanese bunjin which is a translation of the Chinese word wenjen meaning "scholars practiced in the arts". In a few families, both the ability to fly and the wing-cases have been lost, with the best known example being the "glowworms" of the family Phengodidae, in which the females are larviform throughout their lives. The literati style is the hardest to define, but is seen often. After landing, the hindwings are folded below the elytra. These all give the illusion of a group of trees, but are actually the branches of a tree planted on its side. In some cases the ability to fly has been lost, characteristically in families such as Carabidae and Curculionidae. This group of bonsai can include many other styles such as sinuous, straight-line, and group planting styles.

The elytra are not used in flying, but generally must be raised in order to move the hindwings. The bark on the underside of the trunk is trimmed off until the smooth wood underneath is visible; this wood is then placed in contact with the soil and, typically, the trunk is buried either immediately or over time. Beetles are generally characterised by a particularly hard exoskeleton, and the hard wing-cases (elytra) which tend to cover the hind part of the body and protect the second wings, the alae. Raft bonsai are typically planted with the original root system still intact and in contact with the soil. Bearing in mind the wide diversity and number of species the anatomy of beetles is quite uniform. Raft style bonsai are bonsai which mimic a natural phenomenon where a tree which has been toppled (typically due to erosion or another natural force) begins to grow a new root system out of the part of the trunk that is in contact with the ground. . Semi-cascades do not lean as far downward as the cascade style.

Certain species are agricultural pests in some areas, for example the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata), while other species are important controls of agricultural pests, for example the lady beetles (family Coccinellidae) consume aphids, fruit flies, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops. Cascade and semi-cascade are modeled after trees that grow over water or on the sides of mountains. They have a major impact on the ecosystem in three ways: feeding on plants and fungi, breaking down animal and plant debris, and eating other invertebrates. The informal upright is much like the formal, but may bend and curve slightly, although for aesthetic quality the tree should never lean away from the viewer. Beetles can be found in almost all habitats, but are not known to occur in the sea or in the polar regions. The formal upright is just as the name suggests, and is characterized by a tapering trunk and balanced branches. Haldane, a British geneticist, was asked what his studies of nature revealed about God, he replied, "An inordinate fondness for beetles". These include formal upright, informal upright, cascade, semi-cascade, raft, literati, and group / forest.

S. There are many different styles of bonsai, but some are more common than others are. B. Chinese penjing may more literally depict images of dragons or even be guided to resemble highly intricate Chinese characters, such as 壽, "longevity", in various styles, but usually cursive. This is why, when J. The Japanese bonsai are meant to evoke the essential spirit of the plant being used: in all cases, they must look natural and never show the intervention of human hands. Estimates put the total number of species — described and undescribed — at between 5 and 8 million. The plants are grown outdoors and brought in to the tokonoma at special occasions when they most evoke the current season.

Forty percent of all described insect species are beetles (about 350,000 species), and new species are regularly discovered. Traditional subjects for bonsai are pine, maple, flowering apricot, japanese wisteria, juniper, flowering cherry, and larch. Their order, Coleoptera (meaning "sheathed wing"), has more species in it than any other order in the entire animal kingdom. Three forces come together in a good bonsai: shin-zen-bi or truth, essence and beauty. Beetles are one of the main groups of insects. The plant, the shaping and surface of the soil and the selected container come together to express "heaven and earth in one container" as a Japanese cliché has it. The Coleopterist (UK). In the art of bonsai a sense of aesthetics, care, and patience come together.

Harde, A Field Guide in Colour to Beetles ISBN 0706419375 Pages 7-24. However, bonsai require a great deal of care, and improperly maintained bonsai trees may not survive. W. Properly maintained bonsai can have lifespans that might be able to reach that of their full-sized counterparts. K. Theoretically, any species could be used, though ones with attributes such as small leaves and twigs will generally make better bonsai, helping to create the illusion of a larger tree in miniature. Thomas, American Beetles (CRC Press, 2001-2). It is any tree or shrub species actively growing but kept small by crown and root pruning.

and Michael C. A bonsai is not a genetically dwarfed plant. Arnett, Jr. As the Chinese art is intended for outdoor display, the plants tend to be somewhat larger than seen in Japanese bonsai. Ross H. The art is still practiced in China today, often under the name of penjing. Engel, Evolution of the Insects ISBN 0521821495. Indeed a lot of bonsais were drawn in many an "Ukiyo-e (浮世絵)".

David Grimaldi, Michael S. It is said that it came to be called "Bonsai" this time. Entomological Society of America, Beetle Larvae of the World ISBN 0643055061. In addition, the bonsai pot became popular by each daimyo's employing the pottery master who belonged exclusively to the bonsai pot. Poul Beckmann, Living Jewels: The Natural Design of Beetles ISBN 3791325280. The show of the bonsai was often held. Large ground beetles (family Carabidae) are predators of caterpillars and, on occasion, adult weevils, whereas smaller species attack eggs, small caterpillars, and other pest insects. In the Edo period, it became possible to enjoy the bonsai for many daimyos, samurais, merchants, townsmen, and others.

While both adult and larval lady beetles found on crops prefer aphids, they will, if aphids are scarce, use food from other sources, such as small caterpillars, young plant bugs, aphid honeydew, and plant nectar. However, the bonsai was still the enjoyment of people of the chosen hierarchy in the period. The larvae of lady beetles (family Coccinellidae) are often found in aphid colonies. Just like a Japanese garden, it came to assume the artistry of "Wabi-sabi" to be essence. Citrus long-horned beetle. In the Muromachi period, penjing has developed into various directions in Japan. Asian long-horned beetle. In the Kamakura period, penjing that recalled customs from the Heian period came to be drawn in some picture scrolls and documents.

It is most usual for death watch beetle attacks to originate in timber of large dimensions, and it is thought that the actual introduction of the pest into buildings takes place at the time of construction. It was brought to Japan by imperial embassies to Tang China (the 7th – 9th century). It attacks hardwoods such as oak and chestnut, and always where some fungal decay has taken or is taking place. The modern-day art of bonsai originates from China over two thousand years ago, where it has been called penzai and written in the same Hanzi that gave rise to the Kanji above. The death watch beetle (Xestobium rufovillosum) is of some considerable importance as a pest of wooden structures in older buildings in Britain. The trees were sources of chemicals used medicinally by healers in the caravans and places visited along the way. The spread of the fungus by the beetle has led to the devastastation of elm trees in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, notably North America and Europe. Subsequently, caravans were known to transport trees in containers of various kinds throughout Asia.

They are important elm pests because they carry Dutch elm disease (the fungus Ophiostoma ulmi) as they move from infected breeding sites to feed on healthy elm trees. Sketches of trees grown in pots, apparently used for decorative purposes, occur in Egyptian tombs, dated over 4,000 years old. The elm bark beetles, Hylurgopinus rufipes and Scolytus multistriatus (in the family Scolytidae) attack elm trees. . Crops are destroyed and the beetle can only be treated by employing expensive pesticides, many of which it has begun to develop immunity to. The Chinese art of penjing is very similar to and is the precursor of the Japanese art of bonsai. As well as potatoes, this can be any one of a number of plants from the potato family (Solanaceae) such as nightshade, tomato, aubergine and capsicum. Bonsai (盆栽, "tray gardening", in Japanese) is the art of growing trees and plants, kept small by being grown in a pot and by the use of skilled pruning, formed to create an aesthetic shape and the illusion of age, although many bonsai trees are quite old and simply show their age in miniature form.

Adults mate before overwintering deep in the soil, so that when they emerge the following spring, females can lay eggs immediately, once a suitable host plant has been found. The Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) is a notorious pest of potato plants. Myxophaga contains about 100 described species in four families, mostly very small, including skiff beetles (Hydroscaphidae) and minute bog beetles (Sphaeriusidae). Archostemata contains four families of mainly wood-eating beetles, including reticulated beetles (Cupedidae) and telephone-pole beetles (Micromalthidae).

In these beetles the testes are tubular and the first abdominal sternum (a plate of the exoskeleton) is divided by the hind coxae (the basal joints of the beetle's legs). Adephaga contains about 10 families of predatory beetles, includes ground beetles (Carabidae), predacious diving beetles (Dytiscidae) and whirligig beetles (Gyrinidae). These beetles can be identified by the cervical sclerites (hardened parts of the head used as points of attachment for muscles) absent in the other suborders. Polyphaga is the largest suborder, containing more than 300,000 described species in more than 170 families, including rove beetles (Staphylinidae), scarab beetles (Scarabaeidae), blister beetles (Meloidae), stag beetles (Lucanidae), and true weevils (Curculionidae).