Stenocorus meridianus, a relatively common Euro-Siberian species of primary oak forests, has been described from Germany as Leptura meridiana by Carl Linné in 1758 [✧].
S. meridianus is chromatically very variable species. Elytra can be brownish yellow, partially black to whole black, legs yellow to completely black, abdomen can also be testaceous to black.
Larvae of this elegant beetle develop in dead and decaying roots of many species of deciduous trees, but often prefers oaks. Pupation occurs in the pupal cell created in the soil alongside roots during spring months.
Adults, active from May to July, are diurnal and can be found on fallen trunks, logs or on blossoming shrubs (Crataegus, Swida) and flowers (Apiaceae, Filipendula, etc.) [✩][✮][✱].
| Body length: | ♂♂ 12 - 19 mm / ♀♀ 17 - 27 mm |
| Life cycle: | 2 - 3 years |
| Adults in: | May - July |
| Host plant: | polyphagous in deciduous trees (Quercus, Fagus, Alnus, Ulmus, Malus, Prunus, Acer, Salix, Populus, Fraxinus) |
| Distribution: | Europe, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Turkey |
The living male beetle (ML/MR) was beaten from European wild pear (Pyrus pyraster) in Žloukovice village environs (Beroun district, Central Bohemia, Czechia) on May 24, 2021.
The living beetles (DR) were photographed in Bulhary (♂) / Pouzdřany (♀) environs (Břeclav district, South Moravia, Czechia) in May 2018.
The mounted male beetle was collected in Würgau environs (Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany) in spring 1972.
Collected by Miroslav Polcar, Daniel Rydzi and Udo Schmidt
[✧]
Linné C.:
Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis.
Systema naturae (Editio 10) Laur. Salvius, Holmiae 1: 824pp [page 398], 1758.
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[✩]
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 191-192], 1998 [ISBN: 80-238-2627-1].
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[✮]
Danilevsky M.L.:
Longicorn beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycoidea) of Russia and adjacent countries. Part 1.
Higher School Consulting, Moscow, 550pp [pages 96-98], 2014.
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[✱]
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 64-66], 2018.
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