The genus Theophilea was established for the newly described typical taxon T. cylindricollis from Armenia by Maurice Pic in 1985 [▽]. In the half of the 20th century was this species collected in South of European Russia and Ukraine and subsequently also in the Central Europe (Hungary). Jiří Hladil made a comparative study in 1988 [❖] and considered that the specimens collected in Hungary, Slovakia and Northwest of Caucasus are different from those from Armenia (terra typica for Theophilea cylindricollis) and described a new species Theophilea subcylindricollis. Larvae of this interesting species develop in the stalks of couch grass (Elymus repens). Adults, active from April to July, can be swept from grass blades in steppe habitats [✧][✮].

Body length:	5 - 9 mm
Life cycle:	1 year
Adults in:	April - July
Host plant:	couch grass (Elymus repens)
Distribution:	Czechia, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan

The depicted living beetle was photographed in Soutok game reserve (Břeclav district, South Moravia, Czechia) on May 25, 2019. The mounted specimen was collected in Litér village environs (180 m a.d.l., Veszprém county, Central Transdanubia region, Hungary) on May 22, 2014.

Collected by Daniel Rydzi and Hans Mühle

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[▽]
Pic M.:
Descriptions de Longicornes d'Arménie et régions voisines.
L'Échange, Revue Linnéenne 11 (124): 38-40, 1895. [download ]

[❖]
Hladil J.:
A new central European species of the genus Theophilea Pic (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae).
Annotationes Zoologicae et Botanicae Suppl. 188: 1-5, 1988. [download ]

[✧]
Dascǎlu M.M.:
Theophilea subcylindricollis Hladil, 1988 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) a new genus and a new species for Romania's fauna.
Analele Ştiinţifice aļe Universitǎţii “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” Iaşi, série Biologie animală 51: 19-22, 2005. [download ]

[✮]
Holomčík M.:
Theophilea subcylindricollis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) – nový druh tesaříka v České republice.
[ Theophilea subcylindricollis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) – a new species of longhornbeetle for the Czech Republic. ]
Klapalekiana 48: 235–236, 2012. [download ]