The hermit beetle (Osmoderma eremita) will have a new home!
Within the project Life Rosalia “Conservation of saproxylic insects in the Carpathians”, the activities of making and installing wooden boxes filled with decaying plant material within the Putna Vrancea Natural Park started these days.
Wood boxes filled with decaying plant and wood material that mimic hollow trees and dead wood commonly used for reproduction by the saproxylic insects that colonize nutrient-rich cavities in trees have been build. These boxes will be used to provide temporary habitats for Osmoderma eremita.
Due to very strict habitat requirements, the hermit beetle is an indicator species for natural dynamic of forest ecosystems that incorporates hollow trees. It is a species with very low densities, while feeding exclusively on rotten wood it does not cause economic loses due to the wood degradation.
The hermit beetle (Osmoderma eremita) is a species protected by the Habitats Directive (priority species, listed in Annexes II and IV) and by Emergency Ordonance no. 57/2007 on the regime of protected natural areas, conservation of natural habitats, wild flora and fauna. It is considered to have a favorable conservation status in Romania (monitoring period 2013-2018), due to a potential overestimation of the area that can be theoretically occupied by this species.
