Rhamnusium bicolor (Schrank, 1781)
ssp. bicolor (Schrank, 1781)

Subfamilia: LEPTURINAE  /  Tribus: RHAMNUSIINI

Rhamnusium bicolor bicolor
[Photo © Milan Lovětínský]


This beautiful and remarkable species is bound to old living deciduous trees, where it develops in dead wood, especially in hollows in the trunks or in dead stubs. The affected tree can be identified by the typical exit holes in the hollow. Larvae feed in the dead wood, that has contact with the living tissue. Development cycle 2-3 years, pupation in spring in the wood, emergence in May-August. Adults, which are crepuscular/nocturnal, hide in hollows and rarely fly. Taxonomy of genus Rhamnusium was solved in Mikhail Danilevsky's paper in 2012 [❖]

Body length:♂♂ 14-24 mm / ♀♀ 18-24 mm
Life cycle:2 - 3 years
Adults in:May - June
Host plant:polyphagous in deciduous trees (Populus, Aesculus, Ulmus, Fagus, Salix, Acer, Quercus, Castanea, Juglans, Tilia, Platanus)
Distribution:Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine


The beetles in the pictures were collected in a hollow trunk of a living horse chestnut tree (Aesculus hippocastanum) in Lány village environs (Central Bohemia, Czechia).

Collected by Miroslav Polcar


[❖]
Danilevsky M.L.:
A contribution to the revision of the genus Rhamnusium Latreille, 1829 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).
Studies and Reports Taxonomical Series 8 (1-2): 43-65, 2012. [download pdf icon]


Rhamnusium bicolor bicolor
Rhamnusium bicolor bicolor
Rhamnusium bicolor bicolor
Rhamnusium bicolor bicolor
Rhamnusium bicolor bicolor
Rhamnusium bicolor bicolor
[Photo © Milan Lovětínský]


Subfamilia: Lepturinae Latreille, 1802
Tribus: Rhamnusiini Sama, 2009
Genus: Rhamnusium Latreille, 1829
Species: Rhamnusium bicolor (Schrank, 1781)
Subpecies: Rhamnusium bicolor bicolor (Schrank, 1781)