[= Parandra caspia Ménétriés, 1832]
Subfamilia: PARANDRINAE / Tribus: PARANDRINI
[Photo © M.Hoskovec]
Body length: 10 - 22 mm Life cycle: 3 years Adults in: May - September Host plant: polyphagous in deciduous trees Distribution: Talysh (Azerbaidjan), Nagorno-Kharabakh [❖], Turkmenia, Iran
Archandra caspia (Ménétriés, 1832) shows a very interesting life history. The primary sites of attack are 2 years dead standing alders (Alnus) of large diameter growing on the bottom of shady brook and river valleys. Such trees when recently dead are first attacked by other wood boring insects and these start their development under the thick bark. During the next winter insectivorous birds search for the half grown larvae penetrating the thick bark. Next season in about June to July at night adult Parandra search for such trees and gather there. They use the openings in the bark to penetrate under it. Regularly a male and female find together a convenient opening and creep under the bark. There they create a large oval place where copulation occurs. The pair proceeds then to mine the wood and soon enters the hardwood where the female oviposits. A huge dead alder can support a colony of Parandra for many years. The adults do not need to leave the trees for many subsequent years. The species is relatively polyphagous. The depicted beetles were found under bark of a dead standing Carpinus in N Iran, prov. Mazandaran, Calus.[❖] Ghredjyan T.L., Kalashian M.Yu.: Humanity space International Almanac 4 (5): 1090 (2015)
Subfamilia: Parandrinae Blanchard, 1845
Tribus: Parandrini Blanchard, 1845
Genus: Archandra Lameere, 1912
Species: Archandra caspia (Ménétriés, 1832)