[Photo © M.Hoskovec]

Clytus kumalariensis has been described by our friend Martin Johanides [❖] from Suhut, Kumalar Dagi (Central Turkey). It is a species closely related to Clytus arietis (Linnaeus, 1758) and also the biology of both species is quite similar. The host plant of Clytus kumalariensis is oak (Quercus).

Young instar larvae feed in dead red-brown and relatively moisture rich wood in close contact with living tissue, such as the bases of dead branches surrounded by living callus. Later-instar larvae penetrate into the dry part of the dead branch more distal to the living tissue where they also pupate. This substrate differs visibly from the moist wood of the branch base and it comprises a petrified wood (barkless extremely compact and tenacious wood of white colour, poor in moisture content and fungal infestation). The combination of a moisture rich base and a petrified rest of a branch is only created under extremely hot climatic conditions and represents a very typical niche for a number of Cerambycidae species distributed in Asia Minor and Near East. These species are: Chlorophorus dinae Rapuzzi et Sama, 1999, Clytus kabateki Sama, 1997, and Pseudosphegesthes longitarsus Holzschuh, 1974.

Body length:	10 - 14 mm
Life cycle:	2 - 3 years
Adults in:	June - July
Host plant:	oak (Quercus)
Distribution:	an endemic species to Central Turkey

---

[❖]

Johanides M.:
Clytus kumalariensis sp. n. (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).
Biocosme Mésogéen (Nice) 17 (3): 219-224, 2001.

Özdikmen H., Turgut S.:
A synopsis of Turkish Clytus Laicharting, 1784 and Sphegoclytus Sama, 2005 with zoogeographical remarks (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae).
Munis Entomology & Zoology Journal 4 (2): 353-370, 2009. [download ]

Subfamilia: Cerambycinae Latreille, 1802
Tribus: Clytini Mulsant, 1839
Genus: Clytus Laicharting, 1784
Species: Clytus kumalariensis Johanides, 2001