Matti Nuorteva , Jyrki Patomäki, Lennart Saari

Large poplar longhorn, Saperda carcharias (L.), as food for white-backed woodpecker, Dendrocopos leucotos (Bechst.)

Nuorteva M., Patomäki J., Saari L. (1981). Large poplar longhorn, Saperda carcharias (L.), as food for white-backed woodpecker, Dendrocopos leucotos (Bechst.). Silva Fennica vol. 15 no. 2 article id 5118. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a15059

Abstract

In a locality in Southern Finland where the white-backed woodpecker, Dendrocopos leucotos (Bechst.), was previously breeding was found many conical borings excavated during the winter in young aspens (Populus tremula L.) on average 8.1 cm in diameter. Full-grown larvae of Saperda carcharias (L.) (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) hibernated in pupal chambers constructed about 0.5 m above ground level. Below this chamber the larva has usually prepared an exit hole. After the larva has blocked itself in the pupating chamber it is easy to prey for the woodpecker during the whole winter.

There were usually 1–5 conical borings in the same trunk. The number of these borings did not correspond with the amounts of larvae eaten, since the woodpecker often made these borings in places from which it could not obtain a prey. The woodpeckers stopped excavating in those cases when the larvae in the galleries were dead. The exit holes and the conical borings occluded within a few years. The galleries within the tree will not heal and several years later a new larva may utilize them. In the wintering habitats of the white-backed woodpecker the availability of food could be improved by increasing the amount of S. sarcharias larvae. This is easily done by encouraging young aspens.

The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.

Keywords
Populus tremula; nature conservation; aspen; Saperda carcharias; Dendrocopos leucotos; white-backed woodpecker; larvae; pupal chambers

Published in 1981

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Available at https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a15059 | Download PDF