ssp. opifex Mulsant, 1851
Subfamilia: PRIONINAE / Tribus: ERGATINI
[Photo © David Navrátil, click on the picture for 4K resolution]
A subspecies known for imited range: from North Africa and parts of Italy - Sicily and Calabria. Distinguished from E. faber faber (Linnaeus, 1761) on the basis of the female pronotum structure - there is a visible smooth surface, a characteristic "mirror". Ecological requirements and development are similar to those of the nominative subspecies. E. faber opifex has been desribed from Algeria as Ergates opifex by Étienne Mulsant in 1851 [❖].
Interesting is the population of Ergates faber opifex (mounted beetles with indices B) from Tazekka National Park (Taza province, Morocco) which is habitally different from the standard populations (mainly darker colouration and pronotum shape/structure). A large series of adults with the same characters were reared from pupae by our colleague Zdeněk Košťál.
Body length: 25 - 60 mm Life cycle: several years Adults in: June – September Host plant: oligofagus of coniferous trees, mostly Pinus spp. Distribution: North Africa and Southern Italy
The depicted beetles were reared from larvae found in a dead Corsican pines (Pinus nigra laricio) in pine forests on Mt. Etna slopes (Piano Provenzana environs, Linguaglossa, Metropolitan city of Catania, Sicily, Italy) in summer 2010 (AW) and 2022 (MC/SN).Collected by M. Carraretto, Stefania Nappini and Adam Woźniak
[❖]
Mulsant E.:
Description de quelques coléoptères nouveaux ou peu connus de la tribu des Longicornes, suivie d'observations sur diverses espèces de cette tribu
Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Lyon (2) 1: 122-137, 1851. [download]
Trócoli S.:
Actualización del catálogo de Longicornios de Marruecos Actualisation du catalogue des Longicornes du Maroc (Parte I / Partie I : Prioninae, Aseminae, Saphaninae)
Revue de l'Association Roussillonnaise d'Entomologie (R.A.R.E.) 27 (3): 130-140, 2018 [download
[Photo © David Navrátil, click on the picture for 4K resolution]
Male genitalia of Ergates faber opifex Mulsant, 1851 in detail: A. aedeagus, B. lateral lobes, C. subgenital plate.
[Photo © David Navrátil]
[Photo © Adam Woźniak]
| Subfamilia | Prioninae Latreille, 1802 |
| Tribus | Ergatini Fairmaire, 1864 |
| Genus | Ergates Audinet-Serville, 1832 |
| Species | Ergates faber (Linnaeus, 1761) |
| Subspecies | Ergates faber opifex Mulsant, 1851 |