ssp. schaefferi (Laicharting, 1784)
Subfamilia: LEPTURINAE / Tribus: RHAMNUSIINI
[Photo © Lech Kruszelnicki]
Akimerus schaefferi, a conspicuous, unmistakable and rare European species of old oak forests, has been described from Tyrol as Leptura Schæfferi by Johann Nepomuk Laicharting in 1784 [▽]. The occurrence of this species is associated with the presence of very old oaks, or with coppice oak forests. It does not occur in culturally planted oak forests. A. schaefferi larvae develop deep underground in dead or dying (sometimes quite fresh) oak roots. Life cycle 3 years. Pupation in pupal cells hidden among roots in soil during spring. The adults, active from June to August, fly in warm weather around the oak crowns/treetops. They also sit on the leaves of host trees, often on the plants below them, less often on flowers (eg. Apiaceae) [❖][✧].
The authors of our portal cannot fully agree with some of the conclusions published in recent works by Janis Vartanis and Hüseyin Özdikmen concerning the taxonomy of the genus Akimerus (at the subgenera, species, and subspecies levels), and therefore we only cite them here [✳][✰][✮].
Body length: ♂♂ 15.0 - 22.0 mm / ♀♀ 20.0 - 26.5 mm Life cycle: 3 years Adults in: June - July Host plant: oaks (Quercus spp.) Distribution: Central and South Europe
The depicted beetles were collected/photographed in: (DR) - Ladná environs (Břeclav district, South Moravia, Czechia) in June 2014 and 2016; (NR) - Hungary.
[▽]
Laicharting J.N.:
Verzeichniss und Beschreibung der Tyrolen-Insecten.
Zürich. Johann Caspar Füessly, 2 (1): v-xiv + 1- 176, 1784. [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 [pages 196-198], 1998 [ISBN: 80-238-2627-1]. [download[✧]
Danilevsky M.L.:
Longicorn beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycoidea) of Russia and adjacent countries. Part 1.
[ Жуки-усачи (Coleoptera, Cerambycoidea) России и соседних стран. Часть 1. ]
Moscow: Higher School Consulting 1: 522pp [pages 91-92], 2014. [download[✳]
Vartanis J.:
Revision of the genus Akimerus in Europe and the palaearctic area (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).
Munis Entomology & Zoology 18 (supplement): 1854-1860, 2023. [download[✰]
Vartanis J.:
Akimerus schaefferi dentipes (Mulsant, 1842) rest. nom. from France and Etorofus pubescens minetti ssp. nov. from France (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).
Humanity space - International Almanac 14 (3): 285-291, 2025. [download[✮]
Özdikmen H.:
A new subgenus of the genus Akimerus Audinet-Serville (Cerambycidae: Lepturinae: Rhagiini).
Munis Entomology & Zoology 20 (1): 1993-1995, 2025. [download
Akimerus schaefferi ♀ [Photo © Daniel Rydzi]
Akimerus schaefferi ♂ [Photo © Daniel Rydzi]
Akimerus schaefferi ♂ [Photo © Nikola Rahmé]
| Subfamilia | Lepturinae Latreille, 1802 |
| Tribus | Rhamnusiini Sama, 2009 |
| Genus | Akimerus Audinet-Serville, 1836 |
| Species | Akimerus schaefferi (Laicharting, 1784) |
| Species | Akimerus schaefferi schaefferi (Laicharting, 1784) |