Abax ater

The black Féronie , whose scientific name is Abax ater (formerly Abax parallelepipedus ) is one of the large forest coleopters that one could commonly formerly find in moderate Europe and of the south, of the plain to medium mountains (the smaller shape in mountain). It rarefies then is absent when one approaches the zone cold of Northern Europe.

Caution; Feronia will nigra is one of the scientific names which one gave to another species, the common féronie ( Pterostichus Niger ) and which resembles the black féronie.

This animal has, like all the Carabidae, of the ecological functions considered important (predator of the Limace S in particular). It is an auxiliary of the Sylviculture and agriculture périforestière. It could be used as auxiliary in Agroforesterie. Its long-term conservation requires that the forests are not split up by the roads, and restoration of a grid of the woodlands good inter-connected and made up of quickset hedges.

Characteristics

It is differentiated other species which resemble to him (ex: Pterostichus Niger, Zabrus tenebrioides ) by the absence of small holes on the élytre S.

Color, aspect: black and cuticule smooth and brilliant.
Size: 18 to 22 mm

Vulnerability with the parcelling out of the habitats

Several studies based on techniques of capture-marking-recaptures used it - in the field of the ecology of the landscape - as Modèle to study the capacity of invertebrates Carabidae to be moved in the landscape according to various owners écopaysagers and the processes of modifications in progress in these landscapes. It is one of the species studied in the years 1980, which made it possible to show the importance of the ecological Fragmentation of the landscape by the roads, other infrastructures or agriculture (Burel thesis). Indeed, this typical Insect of the closed wooded mediums, although it can fly and is able to go quickly on enough long distances flees open spaces or moves only on wooded écotone S. Like many Invertebrate S, it refuses traverserl the roads, even of modest forest roads where circulate little of car, even not of car of the whole, when they are closed.

The radio-alignment of individuals of this species (To cart and Al, 96, Small) showed that the populations of Abax ater are characterized by a metapopulation of individuals distributed in local populations living in thickets and with the intersections of quickset hedges. From these subpopulations, individuals “centrifugal spreaders” (“ colonizing ” or “ recolonisateurs ”) circulate from one subpopulation to another, in the hedges. These individuals are minority, but have a great importance for the survival of the species because they contribute to the exchange of genes between subpopulation and to reconstitute cores of population in zones from where the species would have disappeared.
La quickset hedge is thus a biological Corridor for this species, provided that it is biologically inteconnectée in a coherent grid, itself connected to timberings and forests;.

More recent studies confirmed that Abax ater had a very weak capacity of dispersion starting from the Forêt timbered S or cores, which explains its disappearance where the Bocage disappeared or very open or was split up. The scrap-metal can be - under certain conditions - a habitat of substitution allowing its reproduction on several generations. Cores of population could survive at least a certain time in the nodes of the ecological Réseau of the woodlands, provided that the structure of the vegetation respects its needs

See too

Carabe

External bonds

To model the movement of the individuals in environment changing - application to the case of Abax ater - Mr. Martin and F. Burel (UMR CNRS 6553, ECOBIO, Rennes, FRANCE)

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