Exocentrus (Exocentrus) punctipennis Mulsant & Guillebeau, 1856

Subfamilia: LAMIINAE  /  Tribus: EXOCENTRINI
Exocentrus punctipennis
[Photo © Libor Kubát]

Exocentrus punctipennis, a broadly distributed xerothermic European species developing predominantly in elms (Ulmus spp.), has been described from Lyon environs (France) by Étienne Mulsant and Francisque Guillebeau in 1856 [✮]. E. puctipennis was a relatively rare and local species in Central Europe, but in recent decades it has been collected more frequently thanks to Dutch elm disease. In addition, due to climate change and warming, this xerothermic species is spreading naturally, not only attacking dying, diseased old elms, but also adapting to the twigs of young, mycosis-free shrub-elms and also to another deciduous tree species as the hosts.

Larval development takes place under the bark and later in the sapwood' surface layer, especially of thin elm branches with a diameter of 1 - 3 cm, less often up to 6 cm. Overwinters in the larval stage, pupating in a shallow oblique pupal cell in the wood. Crepuscular and nocturnal adults, active from May to August, can be colected on the host trees or attracted to light traps [❖][✧].

Body length:3.5 - 6 mm
Life cycle:1 year
Adults in:May - August
Host plant:strongly prefers elms in the Central Europe (Ulmus spp.), developing also in Quercus, Alnus, Betula, Ulmus, Salix, Tilia, Abies
Distribution:Albania, Austria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Belarus, Croatia, Russia, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Serbia, Azerbaijan


The depicted beetles were: (LK) – collected in Děčín – Staré město (Děčín disrict, Ústí nad Labem region, North Bohemia, Czechia) on August 9, 2024; (DR) – beaten from a dying elm (Ulmus sp.) in Bulhary environs (Břeclav district, South Moravia, Czechia) on June 27, 2017;

Collected by Libor Kubát and Daniel Rydzi


[✮]
Mulsant É. and Guillebeau F.:
Description d'une espèce nouvelle de Coléoptère de la tribu des Longicornes.
Annales de la Société Linnéenne de Lyon 3: 103-107, 1856. [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 305-307], 1998 [ISBN: 80-238-2627-1]. [download pdf icon]

[✧]
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 148-149], 2018. [download pdf icon]


Exocentrus punctipennis
Exocentrus punctipennis
[Photo © Libor Kubát]
Exocentrus punctipennis
[Photo © Daniel Rydzi]


 
SubfamiliaLamiinae Latreille, 1825
TribusExocentrini Pascoe, 1864
GenusExocentrus Dejean, 1835
SubgenusExocentrus Dejean, 1835
SpeciesExocentrus (Exocentrus) punctipennis Mulsant & Guillebeau, 1856