Photo © M.Hoskovec
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According to Rejzek and Rébl (1999) the preferred host
of this species in Central Europe is field maple (Acer campestre). Thicker branches and
trunks are usually attacked. Larvae feed subcortically and later in sapwood creating a very
characteristic frass pattern filled with fine sawdust. When entering the wood the larvae never
block the entrance holes (Figure). They secure the pupal cells by
a wad of frass deeper in the wood. The beetles can occasionally be found on flowers but they probably
gather on them during the night and stay there a substantial part of the next day, analogous to
their close relative Leioderes tuerki, a typical nocturnal
species. Leioderes tuerki is not active before dusk and during the night it flies around
cordwood and comes to flowering plants, shrubs and trees. During the next morning it can for
example be found sitting on flowering hawthorn, but it disappears before noon. Most of the beetles
spend the day sitting on leaves of the host plants (Juglans regia and others in case of
Leioderes tuerki).
| Body length: | 9 - 15 mm |
| Life cycle: | 1 - 2 years |
| Adults in: | May - June |
| Host plant: | polyphagous in deciduous trees (Acer, Ulmus, Quercus) |
| Distribution: | Europe - reaching Ural Mts., Near East |
The depicted beetles were reared from larvae collected in dead field maple branches in
Zbeèno (Central Bohemia, Czech Republic) and Bøeclav (South Moravia, Czech Republic).
Collected by M.Hoskovec and M.Rejzek.
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