Lamia textor, a broadly distributed Eurasian species occuring from European Atlantic coast to Japan, has ben described from Sweden as Cerambyx textor by Carl Linné in 1758 [▽]. L. textor is a typical inhabitant of preserved river, pond or dam banks and floodplain forests. L. textor, originally an abundant species, is a rare or even extinct species in many European countries. The reason may also be radical modifications and regulation of riverbeds, land reclamation and destruction of moist and flooded localities with willow stands.

L. textor larvae develop in the lower, especially root parts (often flooded) of living deciduous trees and shrubs. In the Central Europe, the species strongly prefers willows (Salix spp.). Larval galleries are both under the bark and in the heartwood, which is often badly damaged. When weaker and young trees are attacked, they can also die. Pupation in wood during spring, life cycle from 2 to 4 years. Adults, active from early spring to early autumn (peak in May-June), live up to an unusual 300 days. Although it is a species with predominantly crepuscular / nocturnal activity, adults can be found during the day on host trees or walking on the soil in their environs [❖][✧].

Body length:	15 - 32 mm
Life cycle:	2 - 4 years
Adults in:	late March - October
Host plant:	prefers willows (Salix) and rarely in Populus, Betula, Alnus
Distribution:	Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russian Far East and Siberia, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mongolia, Taiwan, Turkey

The depicted living beetles were photographed in Remetské Hámre environs (Slovakia) on June 28, 2019 and in Zbečno environs (Rakovník district, Central Bohemia, Czechia) on June 7, 2015. The mounted specimen was collected in Laces (Latsch) village environs (South Tyrol province, Trentino-Alto Adige region, Italy) in 1970.

Collected by Daniel Rydzi and G. Rößler

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[▽]
Linné C.:
Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis.
Systema naturae (Editio 10), Laurentius Salvius, Holmiae 1: iii + 824pp, 1866. [download ]

[❖]
Vitali F.:
Atlas of the Insects of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg: Coleoptera, Cerambycidae.
Ferrantia, Musée national d’histoire naturelle, Luxembourg 79: 1-208 [pages 124-125], 2018. [download ]

[✧]
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 [page 168-169], 1998 [ISBN: 80-238-2627-1]. [download ]