Ropalopus ledereri, a beautiful and very rare species of the southeastern Mediterranean region, has beed described from Asia Minor by Léon Marc Herminie Fairmaire in 1866 [▽].
Its subspecies R. ledereri wittmeri, known from Lebanon, Syria and South Turkey, has been described by Carl von Demelt in 1970 [❖].
Both subspecies of R. ledereri are typical inhabitants of quickly receding
Quercus calliprinos forest-steppe formations.
Adult beetles can be found sitting on leaves of the hosts or occasionally they gather on juice-oozing oak trees. They never visit flowers.
Body length: | 10 - 15 mm |
Life cycle: | 2 years |
Adults in: | May - June |
Host plant: | oaks (Quercus spp.) |
Distribution: | Lebanon, Syria, South Turkey |
The depicted beetle was reared from larva found in oak (Quercus sp.) in Şenköy environs (700 m a.s.l., Antakya district, Hatay province, Turkey) on May 27, 1995.
Collected by Pierpaolo Rapuzzi
[▽]
Fairmaire L.M.H.:
Notice sur les Coléoptères récoltés par M. J. Lédérer sur le Bosz-Dagh (Asie Mineure).
Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, Paris (4) 6: 249-280, 1866.
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[❖]
Demelt C.:
Eine neue Cerambycidenart aus Griechenland, eine neue Subspec. aus Kleinasien sowie einige neue Cerambycidenformen.
Entomologische Blätter für Biologie und Systematik der Käfer 66 (1): 30-32, 1970.
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