Dorcadion (Dorcadion) cephalotes (Jakovlev, 1889)
[= Compsodorcadion alexii Suvorov, 1915]

Subfamilia: LAMIINAE  /  Tribus: DORCADIONINI
Dorcadion cephalotes
[Photo © Petr Jelínek]

Dorcadion cephalotes, a species occuring in Kazakhstan and North-West China, has been decribed from Lake Balkhash environs (Kazakhstan) as Compsodorcadion cephalotes by Vasiliy Ewgrafowitsch Jakovlev in 1889 [✱]. Typical habitats of D. cephalotes are clay semi-deserts (sometimes with salty plots), or valleys in foothills with more or less closed clumps of Achnatherum in southern coast of Balkjash Lake and Alakon Lake Depression, southern and western piedmonts of Tarbagatai Mts. Range (Тарвагатай нуруу; Almaty and Semipalatinsk Provinces of Kazakhstan). Larvae feed on roots of Achnatherum spp., usually Achnatherum splendens. Both sexes usually are hide inside the clump of host plant and mate in the same place. Males occasionally move from one Achnatherum clump to another one, searching virgin females [✧].

Body length:15 - 18 mm
Life cycle:1 year
Adults in:last decade of April - second half of May
Host plant:needlegrass Achnatherum spp.
Distribution:SE/E Kazakhstan, North-West China [❖]


The depicted beetles were collected and photographed in semi-desert locality ca 3 km N of Koryk (Корык) village in Eastern Kazakhstan on May 4, 2015.

Collected by Petr Jelínek


[✱]
Jakovlev V.E.:
Insecta, a cl. G. N. Potanin in China et in Mongolia novissime lecta. X. Coleoptera (Neodorcadion et Compsodorcadion).
Horae Societatis Entomologicae Rossicae, St. Petersbourg 24 (1-2): 244-253, 1889. [download pdf icon]

[✧]
Toropov S.A., Milko D.A.:
Longhorns of the tribe Dorcadionini (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) of Kazakhstan and Middle Asia.
SatEnto, Bishkek, 103pp, 2013. [download pdf icon]

[❖]
Danilevsky M.L.and Lin M.:
A contribution to the study of China Dorcadionini (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae). Part 2.
Humanity space - International Almanac 1 (Supplement 4): 20-35, 2012. [download pdf icon]

Breuning S.:
Revision der Dorcadionini (Col. Ceramb.)
Abhandlungen und Berichte aus dem staatlichen Museum für Tierkunde in Dresden 27: 666pp [pages 201-202], 1962. [download pdf icon]


Dorcadion cephalotes male
Dorcadion cephalotes male
Dorcadion cephalotes male
Dorcadion cephalotes ♂♂ [Photo © Petr Jelínek]
Dorcadion cephalotes female
Dorcadion cephalotes female
Dorcadion cephalotes female
Dorcadion cephalotes female
Dorcadion cephalotes female
Dorcadion cephalotes female
Dorcadion cephalotes ♀♀ [Photo © Petr Jelínek]


 
SubfamiliaLamiinae Latreille, 1825
TribusDorcadionini Swainson, 1840
GenusDorcadion Dalman, 1817
SubgenusDorcadion Dalman, 1817
SpeciesDorcadion (Dorcadion) cephalotes (Jakovlev, 1889)