Aegosoma sinicum, a widely distributed Oriental-East Palaearctic species (occuring in Russian Far East, China, Korean peninsula, Japan, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, India, Myanmar, and Malaysia), has been described from Shanghai environs (China) by Adam White in 1853 [✱]. The larvae develop in the decaying wood of a plethora of coniferous and deciduous trees (Pinus, Abies, Picea, Populus, Ulmus, Fraxinus, Acer, Salix, Morus, Malus, Prunus, Mallotus, Forsythia, Citrus, Paulownia, Ziziphus, Castanea, Juglans, Melia, Aleurites, Firmiana, Broussonetia, Vernices, or Pterocarya. According to some observations, the state of the infested wood depends on the host tree species - e.g. species develop only in decaying wood of conifers (Pinus, Abies), but the development was also observed in the trunk base of living goat willow (Salix caprea). The life-cycle, at least in the southern part of the distribution range, is usually 2 years. Adults, active in July and August, are crepuctular/nocturnal and can be attracted by light or found on the host trees [✮].

Body length:	♂♂ 29 - 60 mm / ♀♀ 30 - 60 mm
Life cycle:	2 (3) years
Adults in:	July - August
Host plant:	extremely polyphagous in both deciduous and coniferous trees
Distribution:	Russian Far East, China, Korean peninsula, Japan, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, India, Myanmar, Malaysia

The depicted mounted female beetle (43 mm) was collected in An Phu (Anfu) environs (800 m a.s.l., Lục Yên district, Yên Bái province, Vietnam) on May 20, 1996.

Collected by Udo Schmidt

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[✱]
White A.:
Longicornia I.
Catalogue of the coleopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum, London 7: 1-174, 1853. [download ]

[✮]
Danilevsky M.L.:
Longicorn beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycoidea) of Russia and adjacent countries. Part 1.
Higher School Consulting, Moscow 1: 522pp [page 36], 2014. [download ]

Do C.:
Genus Aegosoma Audinet-Serville, 1832, with description of a new species from Vietnam (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Prioninae).
Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology 18: 233-237, 2015. [download ]