BOLZANO. Its body is blue with black spots and is equipped with very long antennas. The beech hornbeam it is among the largest – and most beautiful – beetles present in nature. In Alto Adige it was considered missing since 1932, but has now been found. Its presence says a lot about the health of the forests: its larvae feed on mature or decaying trees, so it is present in historic forests where the trees manage to live for a long time, perhaps alongside younger plants.
Due to its important ecological role, the beech beech beetle is protected at European level. The Habitats Directive with the Natura 2000 Network in fact requires all member states to rigorously protect certain animal and plant species of community interest. Even just to handle the specimens found to photograph and classify them, the research group needed a special permit issued by the competent body. Some time ago the presence of the beetle was reported, but never verified. Now the data has been confirmed by the Eurac Research team who found it in the Mendola area during a targeted survey in which they involved the expert Georg Von Mörl.
This discovery confirms the high conservation value of the Mendola woods, especially the ancient beech forests. Experts from the research center and the province go out into the area regularly to monitor the protected species in the framework of the “SpeciesMonitoring” project, financed and coordinated by the Nature Office of the Province of Bolzano. The results of these campaigns also contribute to enriching the data of the South Tyrolean Biodiversity Monitoring, the project coordinated by Eurac Research and active for five years with the collaboration of the Natural Sciences Museum and various provincial departments.
Much to the team’s surprise, the beech beetle was not alone, but a small population was identified and further surveys are planned for next summer. At the same time, experts were looking for another saproxylic beetle of the protected species “odorous hermit beetle” (Osmoderma eremita).
They discovered it near Bressanone in a chestnut grove, in fact it usually lives in old deciduous forests. This finding underlines the importance for the conservation of biodiversity of cultivated environments in which old broad-leaved plants are present. “Collaborating between institutions to monitor the health of our natural heritage is essential to protect it from climate change and future challenges” comments Andreas Hilpold of Eurac Research, coordinator of the Biodiversity Monitoring of Alto Adige. “The return of species considered extinct is a positive indicator and we hope to continue these discoveries.”