Herophila moreana Rapuzzi & Sama, 2018

Subfamilia: LAMIINAE  /  Tribus: LAMIINI
Herophila moreana

[Photo © David Navrátil & 8K postprocessing M.Hoskovec, click on the picture for 4K resolution]

Herophila moreana, a montane species occuring in Greece and Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been described by Pierpaolo Rapuzzi and Gianfranco Sama in 2018 [▽].

According to the unpublished opinion of Mikhail Danilevsky (and also our opinion), the status of the species and the sister taxon Herophila veluchiana (Breuning, 1943) is debatable and requires a thorough analysis using all available modern taxonomic methods. The authors of the portal personally collected a series of Herophila specimens in Menalo Mt. (Vytina environs), where with increasing altitude, the beetles with the appearance of H. tristis tristis (pubescence, color, distinctive spots on the elytra) gradually changed into the dark, spotless and slightly pubescent/impubescent H. moreana. In the peak part of Menalo Mt. (Ostrakina Ski Center environs ) we found almost only dark impubescent specimens. Biology of all collected specimens was the same (development and occurence on Astragalus sp.) and different/transient forms often occurred together on a single host plant.

Body length:♂♂ 15 - 27 mm / ♀♀ 16 - 26 mm
Life cycle:2 - 3 years [?]
Adults in:May - June
Host plant:Astragalus spp.
Distribution:Greece (Peloponnese), Bosnia and Herzegovina


The depicted mounted beetles were collected on/under the host plant (Astragalus sp.) in Vytina (Βυτίνα) environs (1470 m a.s.l., Mainalo Mt., Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece) on May 27-28, 2009. The living specimens were collected in Mainalo Ski Resort (Χιονοδρομικό Κέντρο Μαινάλου) environs near Vytina (Mainalo Mt., Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece) on May 21, 2022.

Collected by David Navrátil and Daniel Rydzi


[▽]
Rapuzzi P. and Sama G.:
New taxa and notes on the systematic of palearctic Longhorn-Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).
Munis Entomology & Zoology 13 (1): 1-39, 2018. [download pdf icon]


Herophila moreana
Herophila moreana
Herophila moreana[Photo © Daniel Rydzi]
Herophila moreana
Herophila moreana
Herophila moreana
Herophila moreana[Photo © Daniel Rydzi]


 
SubfamiliaLamiinae Latreille, 1825
TribusLamiini Latreille, 1825
GenusHerophila Mulsant, 1863
SpeciesHerophila moreana Rapuzzi & Sama, 2018