Saperda (Compsidia) populnea (Linnaeus, 1758)
ssp. populnea (Linnaeus, 1758)

Subfamilia: LAMIINAE  /  Tribus: SAPERDINI
Saperda populnea populnea
[Photo © Daniel Rydzi]
Saperda populnea populnea
[Photo © Maxim E. Smirnov]

Saperda populnea populnea is in Europe a common nominotypical subspecies [✧] developing mainly in living branches of young aspen (Populus tremula). S. populnea populnea females create horseshoe-shaped cuts for oviposition in the bark of living twigs of young host trees (prefers Populus tremula) and lay a single egg in a hole excavated in the middle of the fissure. The trees react and defend to the cuts producing a typical galls, which tissue provides nutrition to the larvae. Larvae feed on the galls and then penetrate the twig and create the pupal cells in the wood. Pupation during the second year of the development in late summer, pupae overwinter and adults hatch in the next spring [❖].

Body length:9 - 15 mm
Life cycle:2 years
Adults in:May - July
Host plant:Salicaceae, prefers aspen (Populus tremula)
Distribution:Europe, Kazakhstan, North Africa, Russia, Turkey


The living beetles in the pictures were collected and photographed on Populus tremula in Svatý Jan pod Skalou (May 29, 2016) and Prague-Zbraslav (May 18, 2016), both in Central Bohemia (Czechia). The mounted female was collected in Fanagoriyskoye (Фанагорийское) village environs (10 km S of Goryachy Klyuch, Apsheronsky district, NW Caucasus, Krasnodar krai, Southern Federal District, Russia) on May 17, 2012.

Collected by Daniel Rydzi, Maxim E. Smirnov and M.Hoskovec


[✧]
Wallin H., Kvamme T. and Bergsten J.:
To be or not to be a subspecies: description of Saperda populnea lapponica ssp. n. (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) developing in downy willow (Salix lapponum L.).
ZooKeys 691: 103–148, 2017. [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 315-316], 1998 [ISBN: 80-238-2627-1]. [download pdf icon]


Saperda populnea populnea
[Photo © M.Hoskovec]
Saperda populnea populnea
Saperda populnea populnea
Saperda populnea populnea
Saperda populnea populnea
Saperda populnea populnea
[Photo © M.Hoskovec]


 
SubfamiliaLamiinae Latreille, 1825
TribusSaperdini Mulsant, 1839
GenusSaperda Fabricius, 1775
SubgenusCompsidia Mulsant, 1839
SpeciesSaperda (Compsidia) populnea (Linnaeus, 1758)
SubspeciesSaperda (Compsidia) populnea populnea (Linnaeus, 1758)