Subfamilia: CERAMBYCINAE / Tribus: CLYTINI
[Photo © David Navrátil, click on the picture for 4K resolution]
Libanoclytus tommasoi, a striking species known only from Lebanon and Syria, has been described (together with a new genus Libanoclytus) from Lebanon by by Gianfranco Sama, Pierpaolo Rapuzzi and André Kairouz in 2010 [▽]. The Libanoclytus can be easily recognized among the related Clytini genera of the Mediterranean region. From Xylotrechus Chevrolat, 1860 it differs by head without frontal keel and from Clytus Laicharting, 1784, Chlorophorus Chevrolat, 1863 and Pseudosphegesthes Reitter, 1913 by the shape of the prothorax and metepisterns, respectively. The host plant was unknown at the time of description, but it was eventually discovered by Hungarian entomologists in 2016 [❖]. Larvae of Libanoclytus tommasoi develop in dead branches of decidous trees (Morus sp., Ficus carica, Cercis siliquastrum).
Body length: 10 - 12 mm Life cycle: 2 years Adults in: May - June Host plant: polyphagous in deciduous trees (Morus sp., Ficus carica, Cercis siliquastrum) Distribution: Lebanon, Syria
The depicted beetles were collected on Ficus carica / reared from larva found in a dead branches of Ficus carica and Morus sp. in Bsharri (بشرّي) environs (N34°14′57″ E35°58′34″, 970 m a.s.l., Quadisha Valley, Bsharri District, North Governorate, Lebanon) on June 23, 2016 / May 5-25, 2017.Collected by M.Boustani, A.Kotán, P.Nemes, T.Németh and W.Yammine
[▽]
Sama G., Rapuzzi P. and Kairouz A.:
Catalogue commenté des Cerambycidae du Liban. An annotated catalogue of the Cerambycidae of Lebanon (Insecta Coleoptera Cerambycidae).
Quaderni di Studi e Notizie di Storia Naturale della Romagna 30: 131-201, 2010. [download]
[❖]
Márkus A. and Németh T.:
A new species of Alosterna Mulsant, 1863 from Lebanon, and notes on other species (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).
Folia Entomologica Hungarica, Rovartani Közlemények (series nova) 77: 23-32, 2016. [download
[Photo © Tamás Németh]
Libanoclytus tommasoi and Phymatodes lividus [Photo © Tamás Németh]
| Subfamilia | Cerambycinae Latreille, 1802 |
| Tribus | Clytini Mulsant, 1839 |
| Genus | Libanoclytus Sama, Rapuzzi & Kairouz, 2010 |
| Species | Libanoclytus tommasoi Sama, Rapuzzi & Kairouz, 2010 |