[= Molorchus minimus var. schmidti Ganglbauer, 1883]
[= Caenoptera salicicola Stiller, 1935]
[= Molorchus semenovi Plavilstshikov, 1940]
Subfamilia: CERAMBYCINAE / Tribus: MOLORCHINI
[Photo © David Navrátil & 8K postprocessing Michal Hoskovec, click on the picture for 4K resolution]
Molorchus schmidti, a slightly enigmatic taxon for Central Europe with a wide range of distribution from Central Asia and the Urals to Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, was described from Lviv (Ukraine) by Ludwig Ganglbauer as Molorchus minimus var. schmidti in 1883 [▽]. The species is very rare in Europe and occurs in isolated localities, for this reason it was described again from Hungary by Victor Stiller as Caenoptera salicicola in 1935. And to make matters worse, another description followed five years later when Nikolai Plavilstshikov described the same species from Central Asia under the name Molorchus semenovi. For decades, these three taxa have existed "independently" without anyone considering them to be the same species. It was not until 1995 when Gianfranco Sama, in a work devoted to the Molorchini tribe, defined two later described taxa as synonyms to Molorchus schmidti, based on an examination of their types.
Body length: 6 - 8 mm Life cycle: 1 year Adults in: May - June Host plant: polyphagous in thin twigs of deciduous trees (Rosa, Malus, Eleagnus, Populus, Cerasus, Salix) Distribution: Czechia?, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Greece, Slovakia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan
The depicted beetles (♂+♀) were reared from larvae found in wild rose (Rosa canina) twigs in Sherali (Шерали) environs (Kara-Suu district, Osh region, Kyrgyzstan) in October 2018 and collected (♀) in Dedoplistsqaro (დედოფლისწყარო) environs (888 m .s.l., Kakheti mchare, Eastern Georgia) on May 18, 2015.Collected by Petr Papoušek and David Navrátil
[▽]
Ganglbauer L.:
Über einige Bockkäfer.
Wiener Entomologische Zeitung 2 (12): 298-300, 1883. [download]
[☆]
Sama G.:
Note sui Molorchini. II. I generi Glaphyra Newman, 1840 e Nathrioglaphyra nov. (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae).
Lambillionea 95 (3): 363-390, 1995. [download
| Subfamilia | Cerambycinae Latreille, 1802 |
| Tribus | Molorchini Mulsant, 1863 |
| Genus | Molorchus Fabricius, 1793 |
| Subgenus | Molorchus Fabricius, 1793 |
| Species | Molorchus (Molorchus) schmidti Ganglbauer, 1883 |