Subfamilia: LAMIINAE / Tribus: SAPERDINI
[Photo © David Navrátil]
Phytoecia (Musaria) argus is broadly distributed European species, but in most areas of its occurence belongs among rare species typical for karstic landscapes of a steppe/pastures character. P. (Musaria) argus has been described as Saperda argus from Austria by Josef Aloys Frölich in 1793 [❖]. The P. argus females lay eggs on the lower part of the host plant (Seseli, Trinia) stems, the larvae create the corridor into the root part, where they also pupate. However, neither the larva nor the imago die after the dry host plant above-ground part is broken off. The beetle overwinters in the adult stage.
Body length: 9 - 21 mm Life cycle: 1 year Adults in: April - June Host plant: Apiaceae - Seseli / Trinia glauca Distribution: Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Russia: Central and South European Territory, Czechia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldavia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine
The depicted mounted specimens marked by letter S were collected on Seseli in Karlobag environs (804 m a.s.l., Velebit Mts., Licko-senjska župa, Croatia) on May 24, 2014. Beetles marked by letter T were collected on Trinia glauca in karst plateau in Buzet environs (Istria, Croatia) on May 22-23, 2010. The difference in the coloration of adults is probably due to another host plant. In the case of T-specimens here is also possibility of crossbreeding with sister species, Phytoecia (Musaria) cephalotes Küster, 1846, which was collected together with P. argus on the same locality. The living beetles were photographed on the host plant (Seseli varium) in Hungary in spring 2014 and 2021.Collected by David Navrátil, Tamás Németh and Nikola Rahmé
[❖]
Frölich J.A.:
Kritisches Verzeichniß der Oesterreichischen Schneckenkäfer, Saperda Fabr.
Der Naturforscher 27: 128-157, 1793. [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 331-333], 1998 [ISBN: 80-238-2627-1]. [download
[Photo © David Navrátil]
[Photo © Tamás Németh]
[Photo © Nikola Rahmé]
[Photo © Nikola Rahmé]
| Subfamilia | Lamiinae Latreille, 1825 |
| Tribus | Saperdini Mulsant, 1839 |
| Genus | Phytoecia Dejean, 1835 |
| Subgenus | Musaria J. Thomson, 1864 |
| Species | Phytoecia (Musaria) argus (Frölich, 1793) |