Spotted Longhorn Beetle
Lat. “Rutpela maculata“
species
of family
“Longhorn Beetles“
1 species
The species in discussion is Rutpela maculata, which has various varieties, including calcarata, maculipes, nigricornis, seminotata, and more. It is found in Europe, the eastern Palearctic realm, and the Near East. The adults are around 13-20 millimeters in size and have a dark-brown head and pronotum, with yellowish elytra adorned with black dots and stripes that resemble wasps. The adults live for two to four weeks and are commonly seen on flowers, especially those of the Apiaceae family, feeding on pollen and nectar. The larvae are polyphagous and feed on various deciduous tree species. Another similar beetle is Clytus arietis.
Varieties
Varieties within this species include: Rutpela maculata var. calcarata Olivier, 1790 Rutpela maculata var. maculipes Podaný, 1950 Rutpela maculata var. nigricornis (Stierlin, 1864) Rutpela maculata var. seminotata Kaufman, 1947 Rutpela maculata var. subbinotata Podaný Rutpela maculata var. subsinuata Depoli Rutpela maculata var. undulata (Mulsant, 1839) Rutpela maculata var. subexternepunctata Podaný Rutpela maculata var. parumnotata Podaný Rutpela maculata var. subspinosa Fabricius, 1792 Rutpela maculata var. subundulata Depoli, 1926 Rutpela maculata var. subdisconotata Podaný Rutpela maculata var. sinuata Fabricius, 1792
Distribution
This beetle is widespread in most of Europe, in the eastern Palearctic realm, and in the Near East (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corsica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sardinia, Serbia, Sicily, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, and the United Kingdom).
Description
The adults grow up to 13–20 millimetres (0.51–0.79 in). The head and pronotum are dark-brown, while elytra are yellowish, with black dots and stripes, rough imitations of wasps, which probably gives them some protection from birds.
Biology
Adults can be encountered from May through August, completing their life cycle in two-three years. They only live two-four weeks. They are very common flower-visitors, especially Apiaceae species, feeding on pollen and the nectar. Larvae are polyphagous in deciduous trees, mainly feeding on Picea abies, Corylus avellana, Fagus sylvatica, Castanea sativa and Ostrya carpinifolia, as well as on Quercus, Carpinus, Salix, Alnus, Populus and Betula species.
See also
Clytus arietis, another common wasp-mimicking longhorn beetle
External links
Cerambycoidea
Ancestry Graph
Further Information
Copyright
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Rutpela maculata the free encyclopedia Wikipedia which is released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License). On Wikipedia a list of authors is available.