Ossibia fuscata, a widely distributed representative of the Afrotropical fauna extending in the north of its area of occurence to the West Palearctic (Morocco, Yemen), has been described from Senegal as Obrium? fuscatum by Louis Alexandre Auguste Chevrolat in 1856 [▽]. O. fuscata larvae develop in dead thick branches/stumps or dead parts of living trees, in Morocco exclusively in Vachelia (= Acacia) species. Larvae feed firstly subcortically, then penetrate into the sapwood, where they create short galleries filled by compressed extremely fine white frass. Life cycle at least two years. Adults, active from July to November, are crepuscular or nocturnal and can be attracted to light [✳][❖].

Body length:	8 - 14 mm
Life cycle:	2 and more years
Adults in:	July - November (depends on region)
Host plant:	polyphagous on broadleaf trees and shrubs, especially on Fabaceae (Vachelia spp., Albizia coriaria)
Distribution:	Morocco, Yemen, Cabo Verde [✮], Africa (Mauretania, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Chad, Djibouti, Sudan, Ethiopa, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mali, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa)

The depicted beetle was captured in Salt Lick Lodge environs (900 m a.s.l., Taita Hills, Tsavo National Park, Kenya) on November 30, 1991.

Collected by Udo Schmidt

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[▽]
Chevrolat L.A.A.:
Description de longicornes nouveaux du vieux Calabar, côte occidentale d'Afrique
Revue et Magasin de Zoologie (2) 8: 566-572, 1856 [download ]

[❖]
Trócoli S.:
Actualización del catálogo de Longicornios de Marruecos Actualisation du catalogue des Longicornes du Maroc (Parte III / Partie III : Cerambycidae, Cerambycinae).
Revue de l'Association Roussillonnaise d'Entomologie (R.A.R.E.) 28 (3): 143-185, 2019. [download ]

[✮]
Vives E. and Trócoli S:
Cerambycidae de la Macaronesia (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae).
Faunitaxys 9 (44): 1–50, 2021. [download ]

[✳]
Sama G.:
Atlas of the Cerambycidae of Europe and the Mediterranean Area. Volume 2: Northern Africa from Morocco to Egypt and Atlantic Isles.
Natura Edizioni Scientifiche di Alfonso Iorio, Bologna, Italy, 435 pp., 2023.
ISBN: 978-88-89327-16-6