Menesia (Menesia) bipunctata (Zoubkoff, 1829)

Subfamilia: LAMIINAE  /  Tribus: SAPERDINI
Menesia bipunctata
[Photo © Maxim E. Smirnov]

Menesia bipunctata, a forest species occuring in Europe, West Siberia and Kazakhstan, has been described from Russia as Saperda bipunctata by Vasilij Petrovitsch Zoubkoff in 1829 [▽]. Development in the bark and under the bark of weakened/dying trunks and branches of deciduous trees and shrubs with a diameter of up to 5 cm, rarely larger. In the Central Europe M. bipunctata is almost monophagous on Frangula alnus. The larvae create flat galleries and pupate in the hook-shape pupal cell in the wood with exit hole clogged with wood splinters. Overwinters in the larval stage, life-cycle 1-2 years. Adults, active from end of April to July, can be found on buckthorn twigs and leaves.

Body length:5 - 9 mm
Life cycle:1 - 2 years
Adults in:April - July
Host plant:strongly prefers alder buckthorn (Frangula alnus), but also in Juglans regia
Distribution:Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine


The mounted beetle was collected in Pureshka (Пурешка) village environs (Pestyakovsky District, Ivanovo Oblast, Central Federal District, Russia) on June 24-25, 2011. The living beetle was collected from buckhorn branches collected in Dechantlacke environs (N48°11′33″ E16°28′40″; Aspern, Donaustadt, Wien, Austria) on May 29, 2025.

Collected by Maxim E. Smirnov and Per Hoffmann Olsen


[▽]
Zoubkoff V.P.:
Notice. Sur un nouveau genre et quelques nouvelles espèces de Coléoptères. Lue à la séance publique de La Société Impériale des Naturalistes, le 22 décembre 1828, par B. Zoubkoff, membre de la Société..
Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou 1 (6): 147-168, 1829. [download pdf icon]

[❖]
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 319-320], 1998 [ISBN: 80-238-2627-1]. [download pdf icon]


Menesia bipunctata
[Photo © Milan F. Sláma]

Menesia bipunctata usually has only two white toment spots on its elytra, but individuals with 4. 6 or even up to 10 spots are not uncommon.


Menesia bipunctata
Menesia bipunctata
Menesia bipunctata
[Photo © Per Hoffmann Olsen]


 
SubfamiliaLamiinae Latreille, 1825
TribusSaperdini Mulsant, 1839
GenusMenesia Mulsant, 1856
SubgenusMenesia Mulsant, 1856
SpeciesMenesia (Menesia) bipunctata (Zoubkoff, 1829)