Ropalopus ungaricus siculus, a rare montane Sicilian endemite, has been described from Palermo environs as Callidium siculum by Wilhelm Gustav Stierlin
in 1864 [❖]. For a long time, R. siculus was considered a separate species, but it is a subspecies of the widely distributed (albeit today endangered and
disappearing due to the loss of its original habitats) R. ungaricus (Herbst, 1784), with which it shares essentially
identical bionomics [✮].
| Body length: | 15 - 25 mm |
| Life cycle: | 2 - 3 years |
| Adults in: | April - July |
| Host plant: | maples (Acer spp.) |
| Distribution: | an endemic subspecies to Sicily |
The living beetle were reared ex larva by our friend Marcello Benelli from trunk of damaged living maple
(Acer sp.). The depicted mounted beetle was reared ex ovo on Acer by Gianfranco Sama. Locality: Piano Zucchi ski resort environs (1 300 m a.s.l.,
Isnello, Madonie Regional Natural Park, Palermo province, Sicily, Italy).
[❖]
Stierlin W.G.:
Ueber einige neue und wenig bekannte sicilianische Käferarten.
Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift 8 (1-2): 145-153, 1864.
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]
Sama G. and Schurmann P.:
Coleotteri Cerambicidi di Sicilia.
Animalia 7 (113): 189-230, 1980.
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The taxonomic Gordian knot of the Ropalopus ungaricus/insubricus group was elegantly cut by our Polish friends (Lech KARPIŃSKI, Wojciech T. SZCZEPAŃSKI and Lech KRUSZELNICKI)
in their brilliant paper:
[✮]
Karpiński L., Szczepański W.T. & Kruszelnicki L.:
Revision of the Ropalopus ungaricus/insubricus group (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Callidiini) from the western Palaearctic region.
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society XX: 1–41, 2020.
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