ssp. slamai Lazarev, 2023
Subfamilia: LAMIINAE / Tribus: AGAPANTHIINI
[Photo © Daniel Rydzi]
Agapanthia boeberi is a broadly distributed xerothermic species occuring from NW Kazakhstan to South-Southeast Europe which reaches Central Europe where it is very rare. Majority of known specimens of this beetle in collections was for more than 200 years determined as Agapanthia cynarae, originally descibed from Rijeka (Fiume, Croatia) environs as Saperda cynarae by Ernst Friedrich Germar in 1817 [▽]. However, according to Maxim A. Lazarev [✳], taxon cynarae is only subspecies of Agapanthia boeberi, described from Sarepta environs (now Volgograd, South Russia) as Saperda boeberi by Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim in 1806 [▽].
Currently, in addition to the nominate one (South Russia, Ciscaucasia, East Ukraine, NW Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan), five other subspecies are recognized - A. (Epoptes) boeberi cynarae (Germar, 1817) (Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece: Macedonia and Thrakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Czechia, Slovakia, West Ukraine), A. (Epoptes) boeberi diversicornis Pic, 1927 (Albania, central part of mainland Greece), A. (Epoptes) boeberi michaeli Sláma, 1986 (Crete) [✮], A. (Epoptes) boeberi selengensis Danilevsky, 2021 (Eastern Siberia) [✧] and A. (Epoptes) boeberi slamai Lazarev, 2023 (Greece: Peloponnese) [✳].
A. boeberi larvae develop, similar to other species of the genus Agapanthia, in the stems of various herbaceous plants (especially in thistles - Carduus, Cirsium, Onopordon, but also in other plants - Aconitum, Acanthus, etc.), rather in their lower part, where they also pupate. The pupal cell is separated by a seal from the shavings. Life cycle one year. Adults, active from May to July, can be found on the leaves and stems of host plants.
Body length: 15.3-21.2 ♂♂ / 17.5-23.2 mm ♀♀ Life cycle: 1 year Adults in: May - June Host plant: broadly polyphagous in herbaceous plants Distribution: a subspecies endemic to Peloponnese (Greece)
The depicted beetles were photographed in Acrocorinth (Ακροκόρινθος) castle environs (Corinth, Corinthia regional unit, Peloponnese, Greece) on May 25, 2021 and in Daras (Δάρας) environs (Levidi minicipal unit, Tripoli, Arcadia regional unit, Peloponnese, Greece) on May 26, 2021.Collected by Daniel Rydzi
[❖]
Germar E.F.:
Reise nach Dalmatien und in das Gebiet von Ragusa.
Leipzig, Brockhaus i-xii + 323pp, 1817. [download]
[✳]
Lazarev M.A.:
Taxonomy of Agapanthia boeberi (Fischer von Waldheim, 1806) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).
Munis Entomology & Zoology 18 (2): 745-759, 2023. [download[▽]
Fischer von Waldheim G.:
Nouvelles espèces d'Insectes de la Russie.
Mémoires de la Société des Naturalistes de l'Université Impériale de Moscou 1: 12-19 [1805], 1806.[✮]
Sláma M.E.F.:
New taxa of the genus Agapanthia from the Mediterranean region (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae).
Acta Entomologica Bohemoslovaca 83: 465-472, 1986. [download[✧]
Danilevsky M.L.:
New taxa of genus Agapanthia Audinet-Serville, 1835 (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) from Kazakhstan and Siberia.
Humanity space - International Almanac 10 (4): 497-506, 2021. [download
| Subfamilia | Lamiinae Latreille, 1825 |
| Tribus | Agapanthiini Mulsant, 1839 |
| Genus | Agapanthia Audinet-Serville, 1835 |
| Subgenus | Epoptes Gistl, 1857 |
| Species | Agapanthia (Epoptes) boeberi (Fischer von Waldheim, 1806) |
| Subspecies | Agapanthia (Epoptes) boeberi slamai (Fischer von Waldheim, 1806) |