This summer we have had a new species come and join the vibrant community of living beings on the towers.
It is Triplax Thoracica, commonly called the "pleasing beetle".
There are other names that come to mind before "pleasing" when describing this insect, as its presence on the towers is to the detriment of people, like myself, who enjoy harvesting the fresh mushrooms to eat.
These insects have made mushroom harvesting into a competitive sport, where one must be constantly alert and ready to pick the fresh fruiting bodies as soon as they shoot up from the mycelium.
If this does not happen promptly, the beetles will sniff out the mushroom and assail it en masse. An early tell-tale sign that the beetles have taken over is the appearance of small brown freckles on the flesh of the mushroom.
This species really loves oyster mushrooms in particular, and the way they consume it is curious, they do it from the inside out, hollowing out the fruit and turning it into powder (see image below). Leaving behind only the outside skin, that hangs, deflated and ghostly on the walls of the towers.
However unpleasing the actions of the Triplax are to the people that enjoy the fresh mushrooms, they are performing an important first step in the decomposition process that will ultimately transform the tower into soil. By pulverising the flesh of the mushroom, they make the fungi and bacterias job of breaking down complex organic matter into simpler inorganic matter easier and quicker.
Pleasing Beetles love oyster mushrooms. They eat them from the outside in, turning the flesh of the mushroom fruiting body into powder, which is then more easily broken down further by the other organisms living in the Pigeon Towers. By: Georgia Dalloro