What's crawling there?

Researchers on the hunt for beetles

The search was on for small crawlers in the national parks (symbolic image)(Bild: E. Mayrhofer)

Scientists have been busy crawling through local natural paradises to discover unknown and known beetle species. Now the entomological results are in.

The Donau-Auen National Park, the Thayatal National Park, the Vienna Woods Biosphere Reserve and the Dürrenstein-Lassingtal Wilderness Area have all been the target of the "big game hunt" for the tiny variety of beetles that are often invisible to casual hikers over the past few (summer) months. The two-legged crawlers found what they were looking for above all in what is known as dead wood - the substrate that forms in the humus of dying giant trees and is obviously the most valuable habitat for rare species such as the scarlet flat beetle and the hornet beetle.

The scarlet chafer is one of the newly discovered insect species in the vast country.(Bild: Theo Kust)

The impressive ecological balance sheet proudly presented by the industrious entomologists - as insect researchers are known in Latin - at the Natural History Museum in Vienna: A total of more than 10,200 individuals were collected - they are assigned to 891 different beetle species, of which more than 650 species in turn are proven to be dependent on wood substrate. These included very rare species that live in dead wood, such as the variable scarab beetle, which lives in old oak trees that are rarely found outside protected areas due to intensive forestry use.

 Many beetle species discovered
The beetle Peltis grossa also emerged from decayed wood. Due to its rarity, it has not yet been given a German name. Among the many beetles found, one group is particularly noteworthy - the so-called primeval forest relict species. These are creatures whose occurrence is limited to natural to very natural forests in which no or only very limited logging takes place. Special yield here: 48 particularly wondrous species.