Purpuricenus desfontainii, a Mediterranean species occuring in North Africa, Near East, Turkey and Greece, has been described from Algeria as Cerambyx Desfontainii by Johann Christian Fabricius in 1793 [❖].
Its East-Mediterranean subspecies P. desfontainii inhumeralis, known from Greece, Turkey and Near East, has been described from Turkey as Purpuricenus Desfontainesi v. inhumeralis
by Maurice Pic in 1891 [✧]. This form, which differs from the Maghrebian nominate subspecies mainly by the absence of a black humeral spot, was promoted to the subspecific level by Gianfranco Sama in 1987 [✳].
Larvae of this remarkable beetle develop in living branches and twigs of broadlead trees and shrubs (e.g. Quercus, Ceratonia, Pistacia, Ziziphus). Adults, active from May to July,
are diurnal and anthophilous.
| Body length: | 10 - 22 mm |
| Life cycle: | 2 - 3 years |
| Adults in: | May - July |
| Host plant: | polyphagous in deciduous trees and shrubs (Quercus, Ceratonia, Pistacia, Ziziphus) |
| Distribution: | Greece, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey |
The depicted living beetles were collected: (♂-1, ♀) - on blossoming Sarothamnus shrub in Acrocorinth (Ακροκόρινθος) castle environs (Corinth, Corinthia regional unit, Peloponnese, Greece)
on May 25, 2021; (♂-2)- in Germa (Γέρμα) village near Neo Itylo (Mani municipality, Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece) on May 22, 2022. The mounted female was captured in
Ölüdeniz resort environs (Fethiye district, Muğla province, Turkey) on May 7, 2017.
Collected by Daniel Rydzi and Maxim E. Smirnov
[❖]
Fabricius J.Ch.:
Entomologia systematica emendata et aucta. Secundum classes ordines, genera, species adjectis synonymis, locis, observationibus, descriptionibus.
Hafniae, C. G. Proft 1 (2): xx + 538pp, 1793.
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[✧]
Pic M.:
Faune Franco-algérienne (variétés).
Matériaux pour servir à l'étude des Longicornes 1 (1): 1-50..
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[✳]
Sama G.:
Note préliminaire pour une faune des longicornes de l'Afrique du Nord.
Biocosme Mésogéen, Nice 4 (1): 43-64, 1987.
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