Purpuricenus interscapillatus, a rare taxon occuring in Turkey and Near East, has been originally described from Asia Minor as Purpuricenus budensis v. humeralis by Maurice Pic in 1891 [✧].
But thanks to preoccupation of name humeralis, valid is name Purpuricenus budensis v. interscapillatus published first by Nikolai Nikolaevitch Plavilstshikov in 1937 [✮].
However, it is currently considered a separate species with many subspecies (Rapuzzi P. and Sama G., 2013 [❖]). Its subspecies P. interscapillatus hermonensis, known from Israel and Syria,
has been decribed from Mt. Hermon in Israel by Gianfranco Sama in 2013 [❖].
| Body length: | 12 - 15 mm |
| Life cycle: | 2 - 3 years |
| Adults in: | June - July |
| Host plant: | polyphagous in deciduous trees (Quercus spp., Prunus, Crateaegus) |
| Distribution: | Lebanon, Syria |
The depicted female beetle was reared from larva found in branch of the Mount Tabor oak (Quercus ithaburensis) in Odem (אדֶם) settlement environs
(700 m a.s.l., Golan Heights, Israel) on February 21, 1998.
Collected by Gianfranco Sama
[✧]
Pic M.:
Faune Franco-algérienne (variétés).
Matériaux pour servir à l'étude des Longicornes 1 (1): 1-50, 1891.
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[✮]
Plavilstshikov N.N.:
Synonymische Bemerkungen über Cerambyciden (Coleoptera) IV.
Festschrift zum 60. Geburtstage von Professor Dr. Embrik Strand 3: 246-248, 1937.
[❖]
Rapuzzi P. and Sama G.:
Revision of the Purpuricenus interscapillatus species - group and allied taxa (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae).
Fragmenta entomologica, Roma 45 (1-2): 143-171, 2013.
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