''Upis ceramboides'' is a species of beetle, one of many wood-living insects that benefit from

forest fire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire ( in Australia), dese ...

s. It often occurs in quantities below the bark on the fire-damaged

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

es, but can sometimes be seen on other deciduous trees such as

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

and

aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

. The larvae thrive in the inner bark which is rich in

mycelia Mycelium (: mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Its normal form is that of branched, slender, entangled, anastomosing, hyaline threads. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are fo ...

, and in the sapwood. They develop into pupae during the summer months under the bark, and they develop over two or three years. The following spring they reproduce themselves. It has over the years have disappeared from southern Sweden and is now only locally in the

Norrland Norrland (, , originally ''Norrlanden'', meaning 'the Northlands') is the northernmost, largest and least populated of the three traditional lands of Sweden, consisting of nine provinces. Although Norrland does not serve any administrative p ...

coast (

Västerbotten Västerbotten (), sometimes called West Bothnia or Westrobothnia, is a province (''landskap'') in northern Sweden, located by the Gulf of Bothnia. It borders the provinces of Ångermanland, Lapland and Norrbotten. The region is famous for Väs ...

and

Norrbotten Norrbotten (), sometimes called North Bothnia, is a Swedish province (''landskap'') in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland. Administration The traditional provinces of Swede ...

) as well as Canada and Alaska. The reason for the species' decline is probably the lack of fire-damaged forests and birch, and the modern forestry practices. ''Upis ceramboides'' is considered "vulnerable" in terms of species survival. In Vindeln municipality it is called ', because it occurs indoors when burning firewood in winter. The species' survival at temperatures well below freezing are attributed to the xylomannan non-protein antifreeze molecule (polysaccharide and a fatty acid) as well as the sugar-alcohol,

threitol Threitol is the chiral four-carbon sugar alcohol with the molecular formula C4H10O4. It is primarily used as an intermediate in the chemical synthesis of other compounds. It exists in the enantiomorphic forms D-threitol and L-threitol, the reduc ...

. Other notable freeze-tolerant animals include the fly '' Polypedilum vanderplanki'' and the beetle '' Cucujus clavipes puniceus''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7898325 Endemic fauna of Sweden Tenebrionidae Beetles described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus