Tetropiopsis numidica Chobaut, 1899
[= Tetropiopsis guldei Chobaut, 1905]

Subfamilia: CERAMBYCINAE  /  Tribus: HESPEROPHANINI
Tetropiopsis numidica

[Photo © David Navrátil & 8K postprocessing M.Hoskovec, click on the picture for 4K resolution]


Tetropiopsis numidica, a rare Maghrebian (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia) species, has been described from Mezzouna (Tunisia) by Alfred Chobaut in 1899 [▽]. Tetropiopsis, a monospecific genus endemic to North Africa, was originally included in Asemini tribe of the subfamily Spondylidinae. Larval development was reported in dying or dead stems of Launaea arborescens, Launaea spinosa (Asteraceae) and also in Ficus carica [❖].

Body length:7 - 10.5 mm
Life cycle:1 - 2 years [?]
Adults in:May - August
Host plant:probably polyphagous species, reported from Launaea spp. and Ficus carica
Distribution:Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia


The depicted beetles were reared from larvae collected in stems of Launaea arborescens found 20 km SW of Zagora (N30°12′57.4″ W05°57′36.8″; 814 m a.s.l., Zagora province, Drâa-Tafilalet region, Morocco) on April 30, 2011.

Collected by Walter Grosser


[▽]
Chobaut A.:
Séance du 22 novembre 1899. Description d'un genre nouveau et d'une espèce nouvelle de Longicorne, de la Tunisie méridionale [Col.]
Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France, Paris 356-357, 1899. [download pdf icon]

[❖]
Sama G.:
Les genres Daramus Fairmaire et Tetropiopsis Chobaut en Afrique du Nord (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Hesperophanini).
L'Entomologiste 50 (3): 169-180, 1994. [download pdf icon]

Villiers A.:
Coléoptères Cérambycides de l'Afrique du Nord.
Faune de l'Empire Français, ORSC Paris, 5: 1-152, 1946. [download pdf icon]



 
SubfamiliaCerambycinae Latreille, 1802
TribusHesperophanini Mulsant, 1839
GenusTetropiopsis Chobaut, 1899
SpeciesTetropiopsis numidica Chobaut, 1899