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Animalia >Arthropoda >Insecta >Coleoptera >Melioidae >Cissites >

There is a beetle called "Hirazugensei."It resembles a long-horned beetle. I went to warship at one of the 48 temples in Kochi prefecture. There was a red beetle on the ground, paved with pebbles, under the inner shrine. With a closer look, I found several more beetles of the same kind, albeit smaller. It was a beetle I had never seen before. Their movement was rather sluggish and they did not seem to have flown here from somewhere else. I collected several of them and found that this beetle was "Hirazugensei," a rare species indigenous to Kochi prefecture. Seeing their behavior made me interested in them. So later I videotaped them alive. Web surfing told me that there was a person in Kochi prefecture who was providing detailed information on this insect. I also have come to know the distribution of this species has been widening in recent years and there are more and more sightings of this insect in Kinki region, including Hyogo and Osaka. The range extension may be related to increases in their prey populations (bumblebees) and global warming. In any case, the threat of extinction to this rare species seems to have been lessened.

(Data No.momo050122cc01b)

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