Brachyta interrogationis

Brachyta interrogationis is the species of the Lepturinae subfamily in long-horned beetle family.[2] This species was described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae under the name Leptura interrogationis.[3]

Brachyta interrogationis
Brachyta interrogationis. Yellow form
Female, Black form
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Coleoptera
Suborder:
Polyphaga
Superfamily:
Cerambycoidea
Family:
Cerambycidae
Subfamily:
Lepturinae
Genus:
Brachyta
Species:
B. interrogationis
Binomial name
Brachyta interrogationis
Synonyms[1]

Subtaxa

There is one varietet in species:[2]

  • Brachyta interrogationis var. biquadrisignata Pic
  • Brachyta interrogationis var. ebenina Mulsant

Distribution

This species mainly occurs in Central Europe (Austria, Northern Czech Republic, Finland, France, Eastern Germany, Northern Italy, Norway, Southern Poland, Eastern Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland),[2] Caucasus,[4] east to Western Russia,[5] Kazakhstan, Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, Korea and Japan.[6]

Habitat

In Europe, this species is boreal-mountainous, reaching south to the Italian and French Alps, and north to the Arctic Circle. In the Alps, these beetles can be found at elevations up to 2700 meters above sea level.

Description

Brachyta interrogationis can reach approximately a body length of 9–19 millimetres (0.35–0.75 in).[4] They have a black body. Pronotum is convex, with dense punctuation. Also head, thorax and legs are black. Legs are relatively long and slender. The elytra are characterized by a very high variability[7] and more than 150 varietas have been described.[8] Sometimes the elitra are completely black or completely yellow, but usually they are brownish-yellow, with black spots on scutellum, two longitudinal black arcuate bands, and black spots on the sides and on the apex. Antennae are composed by 5-11 segments.[9]

Biology

The adult beetles can be seen on flowers from around May to August.[4] They mainly feed on leaves, petals and pollen of flowers of wood cranesbill,[2][4] but also on wild angelica (Angelica sylvestris), Anemone, plumeless thistles (Carduus species), hogweed (Heracleum species) , Bupleurum species, peony and spurge (Euphorbia species).[4][10][9]

The larva develop in the soil, feeding on roots of grasses and other perennial plants. in which they dig longitudinal galleries. The development time from larva to imago takes one to two years.[4] Then they form a pupation chamber, from which the imago leaves in May and June.

References
  1. Catalogue of life
  2. BioLib Taxon profile — species Brachyta interrogationis (Linnaeus, 1758)
  3. Carl Linnaeus: Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, regnum animale, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus differentiis synonymis, locis. Ed. X. Stockholm: Holmiae, 1758, s. 398
  4. M. Hoskovec, P. Jelinek, M. Rejzek Cerambycidae - Longhorn beetles of the West Palearctic Region
  5. Fauna europaea
  6. Vitali F.: Worldwide Cerambycoidea Photo Gallery
  7. Le monde des insectes (in French)
  8. New subspecies of Brachyta interrogationis (Linnaeus, 1758) from Caucasus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) Mun. Ent. Zool. Vol. 6, No. 2, June 2011
  9. Svatopluk Bílý, O. Mehl Longhorn Beetles - Coleoptera, Cerambycidae - Of Fennoscandia and Denmark
  10. G Galina Borisovna Danilevskaya, Mikhail Leontievich Danilevsky, Karl Hadulla, Andrey Mikhailovich Shapovalov & Yaheita Yokoi Cerambycidae collected in North-East Kazakhstan by an international collecting trip 2005 (Coleoptera), Entomologische Zeitschrift · Stuttgart · 119 (4) 20
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