A Flat Little Ruby

Here's a little gem from Sedge Meadows FP yesterday:

Red Flat Bark Beetle (Cucujus clavipes), Sedge Meadow FP,
Lake Co, IL 4/20/2014

This is a Red Flat Bark Beetle (Cucujus clavipes). They normally hang out under tree bark -- I don't know why he flew out to a roadside barrier.

If you're wondering why he's called a Flat Bark Beetle -- here's why:

Red Flat Bark Beetle (Cucujus clavipes), Sedge Meadow FP,
Lake Co, IL 4/20/2014

This species is widely distributed across North America, although it appears to avoid the deep South. This distribution includes Alaska, where winter temperatures can get extremely cold; this can be a serious problem if you're an insect. How cold-blooded insects survive winters that get well below freezing is a matter of considerable interest, and this species has been helpful in that regards.

As many species do, they overwinter as larvae. In Alaska, they're known to survive down to -100 degrees C! (1) Beetles in Indiana don't have to survive such low temperatures, and the two populations show some interesting differences in physiology as a result. (2) Both populations supercool, with Indiana individuals freezing around -23 degrees C, and Alaska individuals at -35 to -40 degrees C, or even colder. Both populations produce glycol molecules, which act as antifreeze compounds, in similar amounts. But Alaskan beetles actually dehydrate themselves, which raises the glycol concentrations and lowers the freezing point. They can also vitrify (their body fluids freeze in a glassy state rather than a crystalline one, which means less cellular damage), and they are the first species of insects known to do so.

We had a historically cold, snowy winter, but these guys took it in stride, and I end up with a little ruby for my collection.

(1) Sformo, T., Walters, K., Jeannet, K., Wowk, B., Fahy, G. M., Barnes, B. M., & Duman, J. G. (2010). Deep supercooling, vitrification and limited survival to-100 {degrees} C in the Alaskan beetle Cucujus clavipes puniceus (Coleoptera: Cucujidae) larvae. The Journal of experimental biology, 213(3), 502.

(2) Bennett, V. A., Sformo, T., Walters, K., Toien, O., Jeannet, K., Hochstrasser, R., ... & Duman, J. G. (2005). Comparative overwintering physiology of Alaska and Indiana populations of the beetle Cucujus clavipes (Fabricius): roles of antifreeze proteins, polyols, dehydration and diapause. Journal of Experimental Biology, 208(23), 4467-4477.