British Insects: the Families of Coleoptera
British Insects: the Families of Coleoptera |
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Including Lamiidae, Parandridae, Spondylidae.
Longicorn, Long-horn Beetles.
General appearance. 2.5–30 mm long. Body length/maximum body width 1.7–7.97. Elytral length/pronotal length 1.03–7.3. Base of prothorax not or scarcely narrower than the combined elytral bases, or distinctly narrower than the combined elytral bases. Greatest prothoracic width not narrower or only slightly narrower than the greatest elytral width, or distinctly narrower than greatest elytral width. Beetles elongate; dorsally flattened, or cylindric; conspicuously necked to not necked; somewhat waisted, or conspicuously waisted; sometimes brightly coloured, sometimes cryptic; exhibiting bright ‘warning colours’, or without ‘warning colouration’. Upper surfaces of body glabrous or subglabrous, or non-glabrous; exhibiting stiff, erect, dark bristles, or not bristly; with neither scales nor scale-like setae.
Detailed morphology. Beetles prognathous, or not prognathous. Inclination of the head slight to very strong. Eyes strongly protuberant, or not strongly protuberant; usually accommodating the antennae in an anterior notch; bristly, or without bristles. Antennae about half the insect's head to tail length to longer than the insect's head to tail length (nearly always at least two-thirds of the body length and often much longer; usually capable of being directed backwards over, and parallel with, the body); 8–9 segmented, or 11–20 segmented. Antennal scape swollen, or not swollen. Antennae filiform. Antennal insertions visible from above, or hidden from above; not in fossae. Mandibular prosthecae well developed to absent.
Prothorax shorter than wide to longer than wide. Pronotal length/maximum pronotal width 0.37–2.1. Prothorax at its widest markedly narrower than the adjoining part of the abdomen. Prothorax without notopleural sutures. Metaventrite with a transverse groove, or without a transverse groove. The tarsi exhibiting bilobed segments; with a tiny penultimate segment hidden by lobing of the one proximal to it, or without ‘hidden’ segments. Mid-leg tarsi 5-segmented; pentamerous, or pseudotetramerous. Claws of the mid-leg tarsi not appendaged. Front tarsi with as many segments as the mid-tarsi; 5-segmented. Hind tarsi with as many segments as the mid-tarsi; 5-segmented. Tarsal claws simple, or one-toothed or bifid; with an empodium between them (sometimes with three or more setae), or without an associated empodium. Elytral length/maximum width across the elytra 0.57–5.55. Elytra individually distinctly tapered to their apices, or not individually tapered; meeting along the length of the mid-line, or not meeting along the full length of the mid-line; covering most of the abdomen, or short, exposing several terminal abdominal tergites; exposing no more than part of the terminal tergite to at least three complete abdominal tergites; not truncate. Scutellary striole present, or absent. Elytra non-glabrous (usually), or glabrous. Wings well developed, or absent or much reduced.
Visible abdominal sternites 5; immovably joined 0. Abdominal segment 8 apparently without functional spiracles.
Habitat, ecology. Not predacious.
General comments. All the tibiae two-spurred.
Larvae. Larvae not predacious; phytophagous, or boring into living wood, or boring into dead wood; on living vegetation (in plant stems), or in rotting wood, or in or under bark (usually in dead or sick trees).
Classification. Suborder Polyphaga; Superfamily Chrysomeloidea.
British representation. Genera 37; 65 species. E.g., Acanthocinus aedilis; Asemum striatum (Kinnordy Cerambyx); Mesosa nebulosa (Clouded Lamia); Strangalia quadrifasciata (Horn-tipped Leptura); Molorchus minor (Maculated Molorchus); Molorchus umbellatorum; Monochamus sartor; Obrium cantharinum (Reddish Obrium); Phymatodes alni; Prionus coriarius; Rhagium mordax; Saperda scalaris.
Illustrations. • Mesosa nebulosa (Clouded Lamia: B. Ent. 172). • Mesosa nebulosa (details, B. Ent. 172). • Mesosa nebulosa: B. Ent. 172, legend+text. • Asemum striatum (Kinnordy Cerambyx: B. Ent. 295). • Clytus “quadripunctatus” (Spotted Longicorn: alien, B. Ent. 199). • Clytus “quadripunctatus” (B. Ent. 199, legend+text). • Clytus “quadripunctatus” (B. Ent. 199, text cont.). • Strangalia quadrifasciculata (Horn-tipped Leptura: B. Ent. 362). • Molorchus minor (Maculated molorchus: B. Ent. 11). • Molorchus minor (B. Ent. 11, legend+text). • Monochamus sartor (B. Ent. 219). • Obrium cantharinum (Reddish Obrium: B. Ent. 091). • Saperda tremulae (Grove-end Longicorn: not indigenous. B. Ent. 275). • Prionus coriarius, Rhagium mordax (Janson 231, 239). • Acanthocinus aedilis, Molorchus umbellatorum, Phymatodes alni, Saperda scalaris (Rye & Fowler 13).
To view the illustrations with detailed captions, go to the interactive key. This also offers full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. British insects: the families of Coleoptera. Version: 9th June 2008. http://delta-intkey.com’.
