Saperda (Lopezcolonia) octopunctata (Scopoli, 1772)

Subfamilia: LAMIINAE  /  Tribus: SAPERDINI
Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata couple [Photo © Milan Lovětínský]

Saperda octopunctata, a widely distributed but not common European species occuring also in Transcaucasia, has bee described as Leptura Octopunctata by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1772 [❖].

In Central Europe, this beautiful species inhabits mixed deciduous forests, lime alleys and solitary lime trees (Tilia). The larvae develop under the bark of thicker lime branches and trunks with a diameter above 10 cm. The females lay eggs on standing dying/dead, uprooted or felled trees and freshly cut thick branches. Standing trees are infested from the ground level to the crown. Before pupation, the larva bore into the sapwood, where it creates the hook-shaped pupal cell, at the end of which there is a exit hole, sealed with wooden splinters. Larvae of S. octopunctata rarely pupate under the bark or directly in the thick bark. Life-cycle 2 years, species overwinters in the larval stage. Adults occur from the last days of May to July, with the peak in the second half of June, mostly in the treetops. Ovipositing females cand be also found on freshly felled lime-wood [▽].

Body length:11 - 21 mm
Life cycle:1 - 3 years
Adults in:May - July
Host plant:reported as a polyphagous species in deciduous trees, but in Central Europe prefers strongly lime (Tilia)
Distribution:Azerbaijan, Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Belarus, Croatia, Czechiac, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldavia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro


The depicted beetles were reared from larvae found in dead lime (Tilia sp.) trunks in Křivoklátsko UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (Central Bohemia, Czechia) during winters 2020 and 2021.

Collected by Miroslav Polcar


[❖]
Scopoli G.A.:
Observationes zoologicae. Annus V. Historico Naturalis.
Christian Gottlob Hilscheri, Lipsiae 5: 1-128, 1772. [download pdf icon]

[▽]
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 [pages 309-310], 1998 [ISBN: 80-238-2627-1]. [download pdf icon]


Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata couple [Photo © Milan Lovětínský]
Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata ♂♂ [Photo © Milan Lovětínský]
Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata
Saperda octopunctata ♀ [Photo © Milan Lovětínský]


 
SubfamiliaLamiinae Latreille, 1825
TribusSaperdini Mulsant, 1839
GenusSaperda Fabricius, 1775
SubgenusLopezcolonia Alonso-Zarazaga, 1998
SpeciesSaperda (Lopezcolonia) octopunctata (Scopoli, 1772)