Clytus rhamni

Clytus rhamni is a species of round-necked longhorn beetle belonging to the family Cerambycidae, subfamily Cerambycinae.

Clytus rhamni
Clytus rhamni bellieri
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Family:	Cerambycidae
Genus:	Clytus
Species:	C. rhamni
Binomial name
Clytus rhamni Germar, 1817
Synonyms
Sphegesthes rhamni (Germar, 1817) Callidium temesiensis Germar, 1824 Clytus paliuri Depoli, 1940 Clytus rhamni Ilic & Curcic, 2013 Clytus rhamni subsp. rhamni Danilevsky, 2012 Clytus rhamni var. innormalis Pic, 1927

Subspecies

Subspecies include:^[1]

• Clytus rhamni bellieri (Gautier, 1862)
• Clytus rhamni rhamni (Germar, 1817)
• Clytus rhamni temesiensis (Germar, 1824)

Distribution

This common beetle is present in most of Europe (Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Republic of North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine) in the eastern Palearctic realm, Caucasus, North Kazakhstan, Transcaucasia, Turkey, Armenia, Israel, Syria, Iran, and in the Near East.^[2][3]

Clytus rhamni. Mating couple

Habitat

This species occurs almost everywhere, but especially in meadows, in shrubs, in glades of wood, orchards and along paths.^[4]

Description

Clytus rhamni can reach a body length of about 6–12 mm (0.24–0.47 in).^[2] Head, pronotum and elytra are brownish or black. Males show a pronotum relatively fine and simply dotted, while females are coarser dotted.

Elytra are only thinly dotted and more or less glossy. Antennae and legs are red-yellow, but the hind legs are darker. The elytrae are crossed by light yellow stripes, as this beetle imitates, for defensive purposes, like other species of the genus Clytus, the chromatic variety of wasps.

Bicolor tibiae distinguish Clytus rhamni bellieri subspecies. This species is very similar to Clytus arietis.^[5]

Biology

Adults can be encountered from May through August,^[2] completing their life cycle in two year. These polyphagous beetles develop in dead wood of various deciduous trees. The imagos fly the second year. Larvae mainly feed in the dead wood of small branches of Rhamnus (hence the specific name), Castanea, Quercus, Ficus, Ulmus, Pyrus, Prunus species.^[2] The adults are very common flower-visitors.

Bibliography

• C. Gautier des Cottes: Genre nouveau de Staphilinien et déscription de nouvelles espèces de coléoptères de Syrie et d'Europe in Annales de la Société entomologique de France 4. Serie, 2. Band, Paris 1862
• F. Picard: Faune de France - 20 - Coléoptères - Cerambycidae Paris 1929
• Mulsant: Tribu des Longicornes (suite) in Annales des sciences physiques et naturelles, d'agriculture et d'industrie Band VII Lyon, Paris 1863
• Hüseyin Özdikmen: Turkish Red List categories of Longicorn Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) part VIII: subfamily Cerambycinae, Anaglyptini and Clytini. in Munis Entomology & Zoology Vol 9, No 2, June 2014: 687–712.
• Mulsant: Larves des coléoptères in Annales de la Société Linnéenne de Lyon Band 23 Lyon, Paris 1877
• Hüseyin Özdikmen, Mohammed Anwar Ali: Four genera and species new for the fauna of Iraque .... in Munis Entomology & Zoology Vol 12, No 2