ssp. insubricus (Germar, 1824)
[= Ropalopus insubricus (Germar, 1824)]
Subfamilia: CERAMBYCINAE / Tribus: CALLIDIINI
[Photo © Nikola Rahmé]
Ropalopus ungaricus insubricus, a striking and rare xerophilic species distributed in Central and South-East Europe, has been described from Italy as Callidium insubricum by Ernst Friedrich Germar in 1823 [▽]. Despite the identical biology and very similar morphology with R. hungaricus (Herbst, 1784), it has long been considered a valid separate species. The taxonomic Gordian knot of the Ropalopus ungaricus/insubricus group was elegantly cut by our Polish friends (Lech Karpiński, Wojciech T. Szczepański and Lech Kruszelnicki) in their brilliant work published in 2020 [✮], where this taxon is legitimately listed as a subspecies of R. hungaricus. Unlike the nominal montane subspecies, the occurrence of R. h. insubricus is limited to lower altitudes (<500 m a.s.l.). Like all R. ungaricus subspecies, also this taxon is ecologically associated with maples (Acer spp.). The biology of the R. ungaricus complex is similar in all its taxa and is well described in the work (concerning the nominal subspecies) of Martin Rejzek and Karl Hadulla from 2000 [✧].
Body length: 16 - 30 mm Life cycle: 2 - 3 years Adults in: May - August Host plant: oligophagous in maples (Acer spp.) Distribution: from northern Italy through Slovenia to Hungary, Slovakia and the Balkans and to westernmost Turkey, and through Romania and Ukraine to the southern part of European Russia
[▽]
Germar E.F.:
Insectorum species novae aut minus cognitae, descriptionibus illustratae.
Coleopterorum Species. Hendelii et filii, Halae Volumen primum. Coleoptera: xxiv + 1-624, 1823. [download]
[✮]
Karpiński L., Szczepański W.T. & Kruszelnicki L.:
Revision of the Ropalopus ungaricus/insubricus group (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Callidiini) from the western Palaearctic region.
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society XX: 1–41, 2020. [download[✧]
Rejzek M. and Hadulla K.:
Bemerkenswerte Bockkäferfunde in Rheinland-Pfalz und Nordrhein-Westfalen (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae.
Mitteilungen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Rheinischer Koleopterologen 10: 11–22, 2000. [downloadKašák J. and Jiří Foit J.:
Shortage of declining and damaged sun-exposed trees in European mountain forests limits saproxylic beetles: a case study on the endangered longhorn beetle Ropalopus ungaricus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).
Journal of Insect Conservation 22: 171–181, 2018. [download
[Photo © Nikola Rahmé]
| Subfamilia | Cerambycinae Latreille, 1802 |
| Tribus | Callidiini Mulsant, 1839 |
| Genus | Ropalopus Mulsant, 1839 |
| Subgenus | Ropalopus Mulsant, 1839 |
| Species | Ropalopus (Ropalopus) ungaricus (Herbst, 1784) |
| Subspecies | Ropalopus (Ropalopus) ungaricus insubricus (Germar, 1824) |