Jebusaea hammerschmidtii Reiche, 1877
[= Jebusaea hammerschmidti Reiche, 1877]
[= Pseudophilus testaceus Gahan, 1893]
[= Bagdatocerambyx drurei Pic, 1901]
[= Jebusaea persica Villiers, 1967]

Subfamilia: CERAMBYCINAE  /  Tribus: CERAMBYCINI
Jebusaea hammerschmidtii


[Photo © David Navrátil, click on the picture for 4K resolution]

Jebusea hammerschmidtii, a interesting nocturnal species distributed in Near East and Arabian Peninsula, has been described from Jaffa environs (Israel) by Louis Jérôme Reiche in 1877 [❖]. For a very long time, this species has been considered a rarity, but in fact it is abundant in its area of occurrence and is an economically important pest of the date palm (Phoenix dactilifera) with a hidden way of life [✮]. The beetle prefers to infest old neglected palms, however, it can also attack young and healthy crops [✧].

Body length:20 - 45 mm
Life cycle:1 year
Adults in:May - August
Host plant:true date palm (Phoenix dactilifera)
Distribution:Iran, Iraq, Israel, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia


The mounted male beetle was collected in Ḩasan Langī-ye Bālā (حسن لنگي بالا) environs (Takht District, Bandar Abbas county, Hormozgan Province, Iran) on May 17, 2016. The depicted mounted female and living beetles awere collected on true date palm (Phoenix dactilifera) 35 km SE Mīnāb (ميناب; Mīnāb County, Hormozgan province, Iran).

Collected by Tomáš Peterka, Petr Jelínek and Martin Rejzek


[❖]
Reiche L.J.:
Séance du 24 octobre 1877.
Bulletin des séances de la Société entomologique de France 20: 209-212, 1877. [download pdf icon]

[✮]
Giblin-Davis R.M.:
Borers of palms.
In: Insects on palms (W. Howard, D. Moore, R.M. Giblin-Davis, and R.G. Abad Eds.), ISBN: 0851993265, CABI Publishing, Wallingford, 267–304, 2001. [download pdf icon]

[✧]
Khalaf M.Z. and Alrubiae H.F.:
Impact of date palm borer species in Iraqi agroecosystems.
Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture 28 (1): 52-57, 2016. [download pdf icon]


Jebusaea hammerschmidtii
Jebusaea hammerschmidtii
[Photo © Petr Jelínek]
Jebusaea hammerschmidtii
Jebusaea hammerschmidtii
Jebusaea hammerschmidtii
Jebusaea hammerschmidtii
Jebusaea hammerschmidtii
[Photo © Michal Hoskovec, Fuji Superia S400 35 mm film scan]


 
SubfamiliaCerambycinae Latreille, 1802
TribusCerambycini Latreille, 1804
GenusJebusaea Reiche, 1877
SpeciesJebusaea hammerschmidtii Reiche, 1877