Xylosteus caucasicola Plavilstshikov, 1936

Subfamilia: LEPTURINAE  /  Tribus: XYLOSTEINI
Xylosteus caucasicola
[Photo © Kirill V. Makarov]

Xylosteus caucasicola, an endemic representative of the Caucasian entomofauna, has been described from Sochi environs by Nikolai N. Plavilstshikov in 1936 [▽][❖]. X. caucasicola larvae develop in decaying wood of decidouous trees. Life cycle at least 2 years, pupation and hatching in wood at the end of summer – beginning of autumn (freshly hatched aults overwinters in pupal cells). Adults, active in spring and early summer, are nocturnal and don't visit flowers [✮][✳]. Due to its hidden way of life and nocturnal activity, for a long time only a small number of accidentally found adults were known, but thanks to the knowledge of biology, this species is found today without major problems.

Body length:11 - 18 mm
Life cycle:2 - 3 years
Adults in:May - July
Host plant:polyphagous in both decidouous trees (Fagus, Quercus, Carpinus)
Distribution:endemic to Caucasus region (South Russia, Georgia, NE Turkey


Depicted beetles were found in wood of a dead Quercus in Guzeripl (Гузерипль) village environs (Maykopsky district, Republic of Adygea, Southern federal district, Russia) in October 2004.


[▽]
Plavilstshikov N.N.:
Faune de l'URSS. Insectes Coléoptères. Cerambycidae (P. 1).
Moscou-Leningrad. Fauna SSSR 21 (1): i-ix + 1-611, 1936. [download pdf icon]

[❖]
Danilevsky M.L.:
Species Group Taxa of Longhorned Beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) Described by N. N. Plavilstshikov and Their Types Preserved in the Zoological Museum of the Moscow State University and in the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg.
Entomological Review 89 (6): 689-720, 2009. [download pdf icon]

[✮]
Miroshnikov A.I.:
Contribution to the knowledge of the Longicorn Beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) of the Caucasus. I.
Entomologičeskoe Obozrenie 69 (1): 84-92, 1990. [download pdf icon]

[✳]
Danilevsky M.L.:
Longicorn beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycoidea) of Russia and adjacent countries. Part 1.
Higher School Consulting, Moscow, 550pp [page 137], 2014. [download pdf icon]



 
SubfamiliaLepturinae Latreille, 1802
TribusXylosteini Reitter, 1913
GenusXylosteus Frivaldsky, 1838
SpeciesXylosteus caucasicola Plavilstshikov, 1936