[= Purpuricenus bilunatus Schaufuss, 1871]
[= Purpuricenus haussknechti Witte, 1872]
[= Purpuricenus quadrinotatus Pic, 1912]
[= Purpuricenus mesopotamicus Ali, 1987]
Subfamilia: CERAMBYCINAE / Tribus: TRACHYDERINI
[Photo © Sergei O. Kakunin]
Purpuricenus wachanrui, an Irano-Anatolian species known from Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, has been described from Turkey by Gustave Levrat in 1858 [✧].
We observed massive emergence or "swarming" of this species in almost treeless peak parts of Nemrut Dağı National Park during the first decade of June 1996. Many hundreds of beetles mated on Echinops leaves and blossoms or flew around these remarkable Asteraceae plants [❖]. Moreover, in June 2011, we observed Purpuricenus wachanrui female laying eggs in the freshly pre-made hole in the basal part of Echinops stalk. So, with high probability, in South-East Turkey Echinops serves as host plant for this beautiful Cerambycid.
Body length: 10 - 22 mm Life cycle: 1 - 2 years [?] Adults in: June - July Host plant: probably Echinops sp. (Asteraceae) Distribution: Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey
The depicted living beetles were collected on Echinops sp. in: (MH) - plateaus under summit of Nemrut Dagi Mt. in June 2011; (PJ) - Līkbīn (لكبن) village environs (1630-2125 a.s.l., Lajan district, Piranshahr county, Āzarbāyjān-e Gharbī province, NW Iran) on June 6, 2018. The mounted couple was collected on Echinops sp. in Shamshīr (شمشير) village environs (1770-2000 m a.s.l., Central district of Paveh county, Kermanshah province, Iran) on May 22, 2015.Collected by Michal Hoskovec, Petr Jelínek and Sergei O. Kakunin
[✧]
Levrat G.:
Description de deux Coléoptères nouveaux.
Annales de la Société Linnéenne de Lyon (nouvelle série) 5: 261-263, 1858. [download]
[❖]
Rejzek M. and Hoskovec M.:
Cerambycidae of Nemrut Dagi National Park (Anatolia, South-East Turkey).
Biocosme Mésogéen, Nice 15 (4): 257-272, 1999. [download
Purpuricenus wachanrui ♂ [Photo © Michal Hoskovec]
Purpuricenus wachanrui ♀ [Photo © Petr Jelínek]
Purpuricenus wachanrui ♂ [Photo © Michal Hoskovec]
| Subfamilia | Cerambycinae Latreille, 1802 |
| Tribus | Trachyderini Dupont, 1836 |
| Genus | Purpuricenus Dejean, 1821 |
| Species | Purpuricenus wachanrui Levrat, 1858 |