Mallosia (Eumallosia) imperatrix Abeille de Perrin, 1885
ssp. tauricola K. Daniel, 1904

Subfamilia: LAMIINAE  /  Tribus: SAPERDINI
Mallosia imperatrix tauricol
[Photo © David Navrátil, click on the picture for 4K resolution]

Mallosia (Eumallosia) imperatrix, a striking and massive species known from Turkey and Near East (Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey), has been described from Bloudan environs (Syria) by Elzéar Abeille de Perrin in 1885 [❖]. Its endemic Turkish subspecies M. imperatrix tauricola has been described from Taurus Mts. (Turkey) asd Mallosia imperatrix m. tauricola by Karl Daniel in 1904 [✮]. Into the subspecies level it was promoted by Hussein Özdikmen in 2015 [✳]. Larvae of this taxon (similar to other large Mallosia) develop in the roots of big Apiaceae plants (Ferula spp. and Prangos spp.). Adults, active in May and June, can be found during warm and sunny days on host plants where they perform maturation feeding on young leaves. Females do not fly, mostly only move on the ground around host plants or sit on them, on the contrary, very active males fly and search for females in windless warm weather (♀♀ probably emit a sex pheromone)

Body length:18 - 43 mm
Life cycle:1 year
Adults in:May - June
Host plant:Ferula spp. and Prangos spp. (Apiaceae)
Distribution:an endemic subspecies to Turkey


The depicted beetles were collected on Prangos and Ferula in summit plateaus of Nemrut Dagi Mt. (Adiyaman prov., Anatolia, SE Turkey; ✳) on June 13, 1995.

Collected by Michal Hoskovec


[❖]
Abeille de Perrin E.:
Séance du 12 août 1885. [description d'une nouvelle espèce de Coléoptères : Mallosia imperatrix Ab.].
Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France cxl, 1885. [download pdf icon]

[✮]
Daniel K.:
Die Cerambyciden-Gattung Mallosia Muls.
Münchener Koleopterologische Zeitschrift 2: 301-314, 1904. [download pdf icon]

[✳]
Özdikmen H.:
Mallosia imperatrix tauricola K. Daniel, 1904 stat. nov. (Cerambycidae: Lamiinae).
Munis Entomology & Zoology 10 (2): 370-371, 2015. [download pdf icon]

[✧]
Rejzek M. and Hoskovec M.:
Cerambycidae of Nemrut Dagi National Park (Anatolia, South-East Turkey).
Biocosme Mésogéen, Nice 15 (4): 257-272, 1999. [download pdf icon]



 
SubfamiliaLamiinae Latreille, 1825
TribusSaperdini Mulsant, 1839
GenusMallosia Mulsant, 1863
Subgenus:Semnosia K. Daniel, 1904
SpeciesMallosia (Eumallosia) imperatrix Abeille de Perrin, 1885
SubspeciesMallosia (Eumallosia) imperatrix tauricola K. Daniel, 1904