- Colophon primosi
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Colophon primosi Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Coleoptera Family: Lucanidae Genus: Colophon Species: C. primosi Binomial name Colophon primosi
Barnard, 1929Colophon primosi is one of 17 described species of beetle in family Lucanidae, closely related to the Scarab family. It is endemic to South Africa.
Colophon beetles are also known as Barnard's stag beetles after Dr. Keppel Harcourt Barnard (1887-1964) who pioneered studies of this genus while working at the South African Museum. Barnard's mountaineering interest first brought him into contact with the genus, and many species of the beetle were named after his mountaineering friends.
Indiscriminate collecting and habitat destruction, especially from fires as the beetles are flightless, are threatening the genus, so that it has been placed under the protection of nature conservation laws in South Africa, C. primosi being particularly endangered. Being flightless makes recolonisation of burnt areas more difficult for these beetles.
Little is known of their life cycle and habitat requirements, though this has not deterred Japanese and European collectors, and consequently the genus has been placed on CITES Appendix II, banning all trade, exchange or sale of the insects. TRAFFIC has reported on insect trade fairs in Germany where tens of thousands of specimens have been offered for sale, and has called for threatened butterfly and beetle species to be placed under EU Wildlife Trade protection. [1]
Source
- Bellamy, C.L. & Endrody-Younga, S. 1996. Colophon primosi. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 9 August 2007.
References
- ^ Wood Southern Africa - August 2010 vol.35/10
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