Rhagium mordax, a taxon occurring from the Iberian Peninsula to Siberia, is one of the most common longhorn beetles of the Euro-Asian forest zone. It is a species of
deciduous, mostly beech, but often also coniferous forests. Larval development and pupation under the bark of freshly felled/dead trees, stumps, or in residues after logging.
Pupation and hatching under the bark (in typical circular pupal cells made from wood splinters) during late summer before the second overwintering,
life-cycle 2 years. Adults, active from April to August (peak in May-June), can be found on the host trees as well as on flowers (e.g. Sorbus, Viburnum,
Sambucus, Aruncus, Apiaceae) [✧][❖][✳].
Rhagium mordax has been described from Sweden as Leptura (mordax) by Charles De Geer in 1775 [✮].
| Body length: | 13 - 23 mm |
| Life cycle: | 2 - 3 years |
| Adults in: | May - July |
| Host plant: | polyphagous in deciduous trees (Fagus, Alnus, Tilia, Quercus, Castanea, Betula, Populus,
Acer etc.), also in conifers (Abies, Picea, Pinus) |
| Distribution: | Europe, Russia (including West Siberia), Caucasus, NE Kazakhstan |
The depicted living beetles were: (MH) beaten from blossoming hawhorn (Crataegus) in Velký Osek (Central Bohemia, Czechia);
(ML) found in Křivoklátsko Protected Landscape Area (Central Bohemia, Czechia).
The depicted mounted female beetle was collected using window trap in Pavlovskaya Sloboda (Павловская Слобода) village environs
(N55°47′57″ E37°4′26″; Istrinsky district, Moscow oblast, Russia) on June 9-13, 2020.
Collected by Michal Hoskovec, Miroslav Polcar and Kirill V. Makarov
[✧]
Danilevsky M.L.:
Longicorn beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycoidea) of Russia and adjacent countries. Part 1.
Higher School Consulting, Moscow, 550pp [pages 82-83], 2014.
[download 
]
[❖]
Sláma M.E.F.:
Tesaříkovití – Cerambycidae České republiky a Slovenské republiky / Cerambycidae of the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.
Milan Sláma private printing, Krhanice, 383pp [page 193], 1998 [ISBN: 80-238-2627-1].
[download ]
[✳]
Tamutis V. and Alekseev V.:
A survey of Lepturinae Latreille, 1802 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) of the south-eastern Baltic region (Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Region).
Biologija 66 (4): 169-235, 2020.
[download ]
[✮]
De Geer Ch.:
Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des insectes.
Stockholm, Imprimerie Pierre Hesselberg 5: 448pp [page 124], 1775.
[download ]
