2. Behavioral Biology TALKS - Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft

�79 Julius Braun A 703 / 15:00
Morphological and chemical analyses of adhesive tarsus structures in insects
Author: Julius Braun 1
Affiliation: 1 Universität Tübingen
Insects are able to adhere to even smooth surfaces during locomotion. The adhesive
performance is provided by morphological features of the tarsal surface as well as
the chemical properties of adhesive liquids. We conducted both morphological
examinations of the tarsus structure and chemical analyses of tarsal liquids in several
beetle species. We also measured the adhesive performance as a function of surface
energy and roughness. To examine the chemical composition of the tarsal fluid we
directly collected samples from the tarsal surfaces via both solid-phase microextraction
and solvent extraction. Subsequent analyses of the secretion were
conducted by means of hyphenation of gas-chromatography to mass-spectrometry
(GC-MS). According to its high sensitivity in the microgram range, this method is wellsuited
to characterize small sample amounts of the tarsal liquids.
�80 Ute Eulitz A 703 / 15:15
Coleoptera remains from a neolithic well 7200 years old
Authors: Ute Eulitz 1 , Klaus-Dieter Klass 1
Affiliation: 1 Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden, Museum für
Tierkunde
Wells from the Neolithic period of Central Europe (Linear Pottery Culture) are
valuable archives for archaeological investigations and allow for a new perspective on
this culture. Wood, ceramics, bones, pollen and insect remains have been conserved
in sediments still humid today. Six neolithic wells (5500 - 5000 BC) were found in
Saxony; that of Brodau near Leipzig (ca. 5200 BC; discovered in 2005) was
investigated in this study. A total of 80 samples yielded 2387 arthropod fragments,
mostly from Coleoptera (besides few others from Hymenoptera, Diptera and
Araneae).
Coleoptera remains are mostly isolated elytra, pronota and head capsules; legs,
mouthparts or sternites are sparse. Conventional identification keys are not
applicable to the fragments because they require consideration of several body parts.
The fragments are usually well preserved including cuticular surface structures and
occasionally colouration or hairs. We based species identification on (1) examination
of fragments including details of the cuticular surface and (2) comparison with
identified specimens in the institute's Coleoptera collection, using SEM and light
microscopy. This revealed many previously unknown species-distinguishing
characters, mainly on elytra. Yet, identification remains ambiguous in taxa including
several very similar species. The beetle fragments were assigned to 20 families, 36
genera and 27 species. More than 60 % are Aphodiinae (Scarabaeidae) especially
Aphodius varians, A. granarius and Pleurophorus caesus. Four synanthropic species
were detected: Tenebrio obscurus, Oryzaephilus surinamensis (oldest records for
both), Sitophilus granarius and Tenebroides mauretanicus, probably all pests on
cereals. Carabidae (ca. eight species), Ceutorhynchus (Curculionidae) and Platystethus
(Staphylinidae) were also well represented.
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