Guidelines for the monitoring of Osmoderma eremita and closely related species

By

Maurizi, Emanuela
Campanaro, Alessandro
Chiari, Stefano
Maura, Michela
Mosconi, Fabio
Sabatelli, Simone
Zauli, Agnese
Audisio, Paolo Aldo 1955-
Carpaneto, Giuseppe Maria

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2017

Original Publication

Nature conservation

Volume

20

Pages

79--128

Subjects

dead wood , Habitats Directive , hollow trees , old-growth forests , saproxylic beetles , trap sampling

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers 2012-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.20.12658

 

Abstract

Osmoderma eremita (Scopoli, 1763) is a saproxylic scarab beetle protected by the Habitats Directive in the European Union. The present paper is part of a special issue on monitoring of saproxylic beetles protected in Europe and starts with a revision of the current knowledge on systematics, ecology, ethology and conservation of O. eremita and its allied species, followed by experimental tests of different methods for monitoring its populations. Two methods were compared in several localities of central Italy: (1) the widely used pitfall traps into tree cavities and (2) black cross windows traps baited with a specific pheromone produced by male beetles. The first method, often used in northern and central Europe, did not give acceptable results in Italy probably because of the scarcity of veteran trees with large hollows. It could only be used successfully in areas where: 1) tree hollows were abundant, large enough and with sufficient amounts of wood mould for planting pitfall traps and 2) the team is composed of several operators in order to ensure the checking of at least 150 traps every two days during the whole period of mating activities (15 July–25 August). The second method, consisting of hanging 30 black cross window traps during the mating period and checking them every two days, turned out to be better for capturing a significant number of individuals but cannot be used every year because of the possible disturbance on mating activities of the species.