Subfamilia: SPONDYLIDINAE / Tribus: ASEMINI
[Photo © David Navrátil]
Arhopalus syriacus is apparently distributed in the whole of the Mediterranean region. It develops in pines (Pinus pinaster, Pinus nigra salzmanni, Pinus nigra laricio, Pinus halepensis). Larvae feed first under the bark, later in the wood of dead, fallen or standing trunks of greater diameter, in stumps and often in shallow roots. Adults of this nocturnal species can be found on the host plants at night or in bark crevices and under loose bark at day. The species endemic has been described from historic Syria (Haifa and Akbes) by Edmund Reitter in 1895 [❖].
Body length: 12 - 23 mm Life cycle: 2 - 3 years Adults in: May - August Host plant: pines (Pinus), rarely spruce (Picea) Distribution: South Europe, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Canary Islands
The depicted mounted beetles were reared from larvae found in trunk of dead Pinus canariensis in Bosquede la Esperanza environs (1685 m a.s.l., NE Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain) on June 26, 2019 together with larvae of the sister species Arhopalus pinetorum (Wollaston, 1863).Collected by David Navrátil
[❖]
Reitter E.:
Beschreibung neuer oder wenig gekannter Coleopteren aus der Umgebung von Akbes in Syrien.
Wiener Entomologische Zeitung 14 (3): 79-88 [85-86], 1895. [download]
Subfamilia: Spondylidinae Audinet-Serville, 1832
Tribus: Asemini Thomson, 1860
Genus: Arhopalus Audinet-Serville, 1834
Species: Arhopalus syriacus (Reitter, 1895)